


Nightmare´s Gang

by Kaz_MJ



Series: Positive and Negative [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Desperation, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Insanity, Loneliness, Mention of Starvation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-23 15:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19154062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaz_MJ/pseuds/Kaz_MJ
Summary: Nightmare´s gang was a group most monsters had heard about and feared. Everyone knew not to mess with them, nor coming too close to them.But how did they meet?This story is about how Nightmare started his gang and added his four most loyal members; Killer, Horror, Dust and Cross.First up is Killer.





	1. Meeting Killer

**Author's Note:**

> I´ve always liked the idea about Nightmare´s gang and how they would work together. One day I just started thinking about, how did the gang meet each other? The idea wouldn´t leave me alone and so I started writing my version about how they may have met.
> 
> I´m trying to keep the characters as much in character as possible, but there are more likely than not going to be moments when they are not completely in character. We´ll see.
> 
> Anyway, english isn´t my first language, so I apologize before hand if there´s any mistakes.

Nightmare sat alone in his hideout. The long halls showed nothing but darkness. In the main hall you could see Nightmares one glowing, blue eye. He groaned slightly in pain when he pulled a positive arrow from his abdomen. He growled at the glowing weapon and tossed it away, he could deal with that later. While the arrow left no wound, it had weakened him, and Nightmare hated feeling weak. Before he transformed into his corrupted form he hadn´t seen himself as weak, not exactly strong but definitely not weak. Now, however, in his corrupted form he could only describe his former self as weak.

What he hated in this new corrupted form was his weakness to light, or more precise positive emotions. He needed negative emotions to become stronger, but that wasn´t always easy when Ink and his brother got in his way. 

Nightmare looked over at the glowing arrow, his brother’s favorite weapon. Dream too had become stronger since the “incident” and with Ink on his side, they were a strong force.  
Nightmare had to admit, at least to himself, that Dream and Ink together were a force to be reckoned with. He could easily take them down one on one, but the two of them together were another story. Despite it being two against one, Nightmare did give them a hard time, but their fight would always end up having Nightmare have to retreat thanks to the positive arrows his brother shot him with. 

It would be another story if he wasn´t alone in those battles.

Nightmare tilted his head a little by that idea. He had never considered fighting alongside other monsters, but it may not be a bad idea. Finding someone who would do whatever he said on the other hand may not be so easy, especially because said monster has to fight against the Creator of the Aus. He would need to find someone just as malice as himself, or at least close enough.  
Nightmare smiled. Luckily Ink had made many Aus with twisted monsters.

***

Deciding which Au he would travel to was harder than Nightmare had thought. He couldn´t specifically see each Au and see who was “bad” and who was “good”. He could feel their negative energies, but most of them were thanks to the fallen human committing a genocide route. He wasn´t sure he could get one of them on his team, nor was he sure he wanted one. Humans could be a threat, mainly thanks to their souls, but once they had killed enough monsters and gained a lot of LOVE, they would lose control of themselves and would eventually attack him. 

Nightmare wasn´t afraid of that happening, he could easily kill them, but it would be such a waste of time and resources because he would then need a new minion. He preferred monsters, especially those like himself. 

A Sans (or those who took a Sans role) was typically a lazy monster, but they were the best monster in the Multiverse to dodge. The problem with a Sans could be his ATK and DEF, unless they gained LV. And if they were to join Nightmare´s team, they needed a high LV and not too many emotions about who they killed, which could also become a problem. Despite how many Sans´ seemed to have given up and don´t care about other monsters than their Papyrus´, they weren´t practically happy with watching other monsters turned to dust, even less so if they were the one to do it.

Nightmare sighed inwardly and was about to just pick an Au and hope for the best, but then he felt strongly negative emotions from an Au. The Au looked like any other pacifist Au, except for the lack of monsters. It´s funny how a genocide route Au could still look like a pacifist Au. Nevertheless, it caught Nightmare´s attention and with a little use of his powers, he took a step through a portal and into the almost monster less Au.

The portal brought Nightmare somewhere between Waterfall and Hotland. A small wind took some of the dust from the dust piles on the ground with it, making it cover more ground. Nightmare checked his surroundings to make sure he was alone before looking at the Au; Killertale. 

An Au named Killertale was, in Nightmares opinion, a good sign. Whoever had done this have clearly shown no mercy, if the many piles of dust was any indication. Nightmare wasn’t sure what to expect. The negative emotions felt stronger now that he was in the Au. Following those feelings led him to the monster, who may have done this.  
Nightmare had not expected to find the monster in the middle of a breakdown. Before him was a Sans facing away from him. From what Nightmare could see, he looked just like Classic Sans, except his jacket may be a shade or two darker and his shorts was white with two black stripes at the sides. He was covered in dust and not far from the Sans lay a knife, clearly the weapon of choice.

The Sans seemed to be talking to himself, but Nightmare was too far away to hear him clearly. It was clear the strong emotions was coming from this Sans. Nightmare had never felt so many different emotions from one monster at the same time.

Anger, regret, hopelessness, loneliness, desperation, sorrow.

The Sans felt Nightmare´s presence. The air was suddenly colder and felt darker. He quickly grabbed his knife, stood up and sprung around to face Nightmare. Other than holding the knife ready to strike an attack, he didn´t do anything.

Nightmare was shocked to see the Sans fully now. Now he could see this Sans was different than Classic Sans more than just choice of clothing color. The Sans´ soul had the form of a target and shone brightly before his chest. His skeleton grin seemed wider and his eye sockets were completely black. However, what stood out the most was the liquid that flooded down from the skeletons eye sockets. It dripped from time to time but never landed on the Sans´ clothes. 

Liquid hate. Nightmare had never seen liquid hate before, but had heard it was common for the Multeverses Charas to have it. 

Nightmare wiped the shock from his face. He couldn´t afford to look surprised in front of the Sans from Killertale. However, before he could say anything, the Sans beat him to it.

“Who are you? What do you want?!”

Nightmare opened his mouth to answer, but the other skeleton acted again before he could do anything. The Sans held the knife higher, but instead of attacking he took a step backwards, a new emotion radiated off of him; fear. 

“Stay back! I don´t wanna hurt you!” the Sans pretty much screamed. He looked at the knife in fear, but didn´t throw it away. “I… do… not… wanna… hurt… you.”

Nightmare kept his eyes on the Sans. It was clear he was fighting some battle within himself.

The Sans looked up at him again. “Do I wanna hurt you?” he asked. “It´s wrong. I shouldn´t do it. What have I done?!” He fell to his knees, the knife still safely in his hands. “But I can´t stop. It feels… right, I think. It´s… fun… But it… shouldn´t be…”

He looked at the knife again, almost with a haunted look. His grip tightened around the weapon and with a shift motion he cut through his jacket and left a mark on the bones. The liquid from his eye sockets dripped faster now, Nightmare was not sure if that was because the skeleton cried or because he was angry at himself.

“I just want the pain to stop.”

Nightmare had seen enough. The skeleton clearly knew what he was doing was wrong, but that didn´t seem to stop him. He enjoyed killing, or at least a part of him did, and that is all Nightmare needs. The other part, the part that doesn´t want to kill, needed to disappear. If the Sans continued going down this path, Nightmare was sure it would only be a matter of time before that happened. 

What was even better was the fact the skeleton was desperate, not to stop killing other monsters, but for the pain to go away. If Nightmare “helped” him with that, he would surely gain some royalty from the skeleton. He stepped closer to the desperate monster.

“Listen, Killer-“

“The name´s Sans,” interrupted the skeleton. “Sans the skeleton.”

“Yeah, well Sans the skeleton, you´re not the only Sans the skeleton in this Multiverse, so I´m gonna call ya Killer because you´re from Killertale. Now that we gotten that out of the way, listen; the name´s Nightmare, the King of negativity, and I might be able to help you getting the pain to go away.”

Killer stared confused at Nightmare through most of his speech, until the last part. He lifted his head a little and looked at the other with hope, or at least Nightmare assumed he did. It was hard to tell thanks to the other had completely black eye sockets.

“You can make the pain go away?”

Nightmare smiled. Killer had asked so hopefully, like a child getting to pick whatever they wanted at a toy store. It would have been fun to crush that hope by saying no, but he needed a partner, or more accurate a minion, to help him take down Ink and his goody two shoe brother, and he could see that happen with Killer at his side. Despite the negativity he could get from Killer by crushing that hope, he needed Killer as an ally, and he won´t get that by hurting the other skeleton.  
“I can. But it will require you leave your Au.”

Killer nodded eagerly. “Anything. I will do anything to make the pain go away. I don´t wanna feel anymore.”  
Nightmare couldn´t have asked for more. He held out his hand for Killer. “Then let me help you.”

Killer took the offered hand and was brought to his feet. Nightmare opened a portal to another Au and the two of them went through it to a neutral Au, a perfect place to make Killers doubt about killing disappear.

Neither knew how much they were going to affect each other’s lives, or how much they would affect three other lives.


	2. Starting to care

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare takes Killer to several Aus to help Killer become more emotionless. After a fight against Ink and Dream, Nightmare starts to realize he may care about Killer, just a little.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have now realized I suck at summaries. Oh well, I hope they get the point across and capture people´s attention.
> 
> Anyway, here´s chapter two focusing on Nightmare and Killer. I´m going to make one chapter where they meet the newest member and then one bonding chapter in this story. I might make a series of one shots about what also happens between the gang, so it doesn´t seem like the they trusted each other completely from the start. I already have some ideas.
> 
> Welp, I´ve talked long enough. So here´s chapter 2:

Killer looked confused around the Au he found himself in. He didn´t know what Au he was in, but he did know he was in the Ruins. Nightmare did not want to catch too much attention, from who Killer didn´t know, and though it best to “help” Killer somewhere where there wasn´t too many monsters. They couldn´t risk killing too many monsters from the same Au otherwise they would likely be tracked by either Dream or Ink, and while Nightmare itched for another fight with them, he needed Killer in the right mindset first.

Killer watched a Froggit stare curiosity up at him. These Froggits seemed dumber than the ones from his own Au, they at least ran away. This one stood almost on his slippers. It would be such an easy kill.

He looked over at Nightmare. “How exactly will this make the pain go away?” 

“The more you kill, the easier it becomes and the less you will feel,” answered Nightmare.

“But I´ve killed everyone in my Au countless times, and the pain always returned at some point. No matter whom I killed.”

“Properly because you thought too much about it”, answered Nightmare. “The monsters in your Au mattered to you, that little Froggit means nothing to you. If you start by killing monsters you care about, you will feel regret later on. If you start by killing monsters that means nothing to you, you won´t feel remorse about killing them, and eventually, you won´t feel remorse or pain from killing anyone.”

Killer looked down at the little Froggit on his slippers. It no longer looked at him, but had found out how soft his slippers were and rested its head on the soft fabric. Its eyes wasn´t closed, but it had a content smile on its face.

It was such an easy target. Killer had almost killed his entire Au again before Nightmare showed up. He could stomp on this Froggit and kill it instantly. But where was the fun in that?

Killer widened his smile while taken his knife from his pocket. The Froggit would turn to dust even if Killer barely hit it, so he couldn´t have much fun in this fight. Maybe Nightmare could give him a bigger challenge after this.

By this time the Froggit had closed its eyes and seemed half asleep. Killer kicked his leg up, sending the Froggit flying up in the air. It made a sound of surprise by the rude awakening, but it died completely when Killer threw the knife in the air and hid the Froggit in the head. He had barely looked when he threw the knife. The Froggit´s dust slowly rained down to the Ruins´ floor.

Nightmare had to admit he was impressed. Not because Killer could kill a Froggit, everyone could do that, but the other skeleton had barely looked when he threw the knife. He had underestimated Killer´s powers and had for a moment forgotten the skeleton was in the middle of a genocide run when he broke down. He didn´t know how powerful Killer was, but he needed to find stronger monsters to see how strong and useful Killer could be.

With that in mind the two of them left the Au and found themselves in one Au after another. Killer would kill all the monsters Nightmare asked him to do. The liquid hate from Killer´s eyes seemed thicker now, but the more Killer killed the less Nightmare could sense him. Killer definitely still had emotions, but now they didn´t face him. He barely looked at the monsters when he killed them, and now with more powerful monsters that could withstand some of Killer´s attacks, he intentionally let the monsters suffer a long time before putting them out of their misery.

This proved Killer was the perfect monster to join Nightmare in his scheme. He would feed off of the negative emotions while Killer let them suffer, making them both stronger. So far he hadn´t seen Killer use Gaster Blasters, he wasn´t sure he even could use them, but it didn´t matter. Gaster Blasters were powerful weapons and if the victims died quickly, they wouldn´t feel any negative emotions.

Killer seemed to enjoy the killing. His smile had widened more since they met and it seemed wider every time he would land the final blow or hear his victims scream. That was pretty much the only times Killer would show any indication he wasn´t emotionless. If he wasn´t on a killing spree he would just stand to the side with his wicked smile and hands in his pockets.

Nightmare knew it would only be a matter of time before Ink and Dream would notice all the killing and find them. Nightmare almost felt excited about it. While he wasn´t sure Killer was strong enough to kill them, he would without a doubt give them a hard time. Even better were the fact that Killer was not part of this war, so Ink and his brother may not want to kill him, may not even want to harm him. 

Only time would tell.

***

Having Killer around in his hidden hideout was not as different as when he lived by himself. Killer would mainly keep to himself. If he wasn´t taking a nap somewhere (he was still a Sans) he would train outside and ruining as much as he could. Nightmare had caught him sometimes just staring at nothing, too deep in thoughts to even notice him. Nightmare did not know what Killer would be thinking about, if he actually was thinking. There weren´t many of those moments. 

Other than that he didn´t see the other skeleton that much in the hideout. Granted, he did use a lot of time in his own room, so that may also be part of the reason. Killer would sometimes become bored and ask if he could be sent to some Au and cause some chaos. Sometimes, most of the times, Nightmare would sent him on his way. 

One day, however, they were finally found out by Ink and Dream. Nightmare and Killer had been at their usual business and kill/harm monsters and sometimes humans in an Au. When the sky suddenly was more colorful and there was a positive energy despite the chaos around them Nightmare knew, his brother and Ink had found them.

Killer had stopped harming the Aus population and looked confusedly up at the sky when Ink and Dream appeared. His knife was held to his side and he itched to use it, but awaited orders. Ink and Dream had clearly been surprised by his presence and looked towards Nightmare first in chock, then disgustingly.

Nightmare just smiled their way and finally gave Killer permission to attack. The battle between them lasted longer than normal, but eventually Nightmare had to flee with Killer. During the fight monsters and humans from the Au had taken interest in the fight and hid themselves somewhere near the battle but out of sight. Nightmare wasn´t practically bothered by that, until Ink knocked Killer to the ground and the almost emotionless skeleton monster stayed there. Nightmare could sense he was still conscious, but only barely.

Having Killer out of the battle wouldn´t had been that big of a deal. He had been fighting Ink and seemed to stand a good chance against the Protector of the Aus. Ink had been holding back, trying to talk some sense into Killer and promised to sent him back to his own Au without being harmed if he stopped fighting. Killer had ignored the whole conversation and kept attacking. When Ink realized he couldn´t reason with Killer, he fought back. The two of them fought for a long time until Ink threw Killer on the ground.

The crowd around (knowing who the good guys were and who the bad guys were) cheered when Killer hit the ground and stayed there. The positive energy replaced the negative in seconds which weakened Nightmare and made Dream stronger. Dream saw this opportunity to strike Nightmare down with several weapons made by positive energy.

Nightmare growled by the attacks, but knew if he stayed longer he would be captured. With the little strength he still had left, he teleported first himself over to Killer, grabbed the now unconscious skeleton by the shoulder and teleported them both away from the Au and home to Nightmare´s hideout.

Even though it had been a long time ago Nightmare found himself removing weapons from his person again, this time with an unconscious skeleton on his floor. It did not seem like Killer had any injuries, but Nightmare had to be sure. Not because he cared about Killer´s wellbeing, but because he had proved himself useful and didn´t want to lose him.

Despite they had to run from the battle Nightmare saw the fight as a small victory. Killer could keep up with Ink´s attack and therefore should also be able to stand his ground against Dream. If it wasn´t for the stupid crowd around them, Nightmare was sure the battle would had ended differently.

After removing the last weapon from him Nightmare turned his attention on his new partner in crime. He carefully scooped Killer up from the floor with his tentacles and placed him on the couch. Killer seemed to shutter at the cold aura the tentacles were surrounded with, but only for a short while. When he was placed on the couch, he slowly sank into the cushions.

Nightmare looked over the other skeleton but as far as he could see, Killer had no injuries. He probably lost some HP from the battle, but he could gain that when he woke up and ate some healing food.

It was a bit weird to take care of another monster again. He had ever only looked after Dream when they were younger, and Dream rarely got hurt and therefore didn´t need the care so often. He had however been an attention seeker and had sometimes annoyed Nightmare to the point he almost hurt him himself.

Nightmare shook his head, annoyed at himself for thinking of the past and his brother. Those days were over and they would never return.

Despite telling himself he didn´t care about Killer, he lifted the other skeleton´s skull and placed a pillow under him, followed by placing a blanket over him. Killer frowned slightly in his sleep and moved one of his arms slightly away from the blanket.

Nightmare took a moment to look at the sleeping skeleton. He carefully removed some of Killer´s blue hoodie until he could see the humerus. Killers humerus was covered with scars clearly made by a knife and too smooth to be caused in a fight. Thinking back on it, Nightmare did remember Killer had cut himself during his breakdown, but at the time 

Nightmare hadn´t thought too much about it.

Now he couldn´t help but feel worried about Killer, which annoyed him. Killer had been a part of his life for some time now, but he could not care about the other skeleton. He was supposed to be heartless, emotionless and cold. He was not supposed to be worried about some skeleton cutting himself.

Nightmare covered the humerus with the hoodie´s sleeve. Killer stirred from the movement and opened one of his eye sockets. When he saw Nightmare beside him he opened the other eye socket, sat up from the couch and asked;

“What happened?”

“Ink knocked you out.”

Killer tilted his head to the side, trying to remember what happened. He had a small headache and his back hurt, but other than that he felt fine. He did remember killing monsters in an Au and suddenly being in a fight against some Sans with a giant paintbrush. He could not remember being knocked unconscious.

“´m sorry,” he whispered and looked away.

Now it was Nightmare that was confused. “For what?” he asked before he could stop himself.

“For not taken down this Ink skeleton and being knocked unconscious.”

Nightmare couldn´t believe it. Killer felt ashamed for not doing more even though he couldn´t have done more. Come to think of it, Nightmare had never mentioned Ink or Dream to Killer, so Killer had no chance in knowing who he was up against. Ink is the creator and protector of the Multiverse, and despite not looking like it he was a powerful being. Not many monsters or humans for that matter stood a chance against him. 

But Killer had, even without knowing who he was up against.

Nightmare should blame Killer, if only to make the other feel terrible and try harder, but he couldn´t make himself to do it.

“It wasn´t your fault. If anything, I should have told you about those two.”

“You know them?”

“More than I´d like to admit, but that´s a conversation for another day. You need to rest.”

With that said Nightmare turned to leave, but before he left the room he heard Killer call after him.

“Whatever you say, Boss. You should rest too; those holes in your body doesn´t look pleasant.”

Nightmare hesitated a moment before leaving the room completely. Looking down at himself he did notice the holes the positive weapons had left him. It wasn´t a big deal, he could heal them when he got his energy back.

He was however not prepared for Killer to worry about him, nor calling him boss. Maybe Killer was starting to become more than just a minion to him. 

Nightmare shook his head. That was a ridiculous thought. He only cared about himself, no one else. At the same time he couldn´t help but wonder how he could get Killer to stop cutting himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Nightmare and Killer starting to care about each other. Gotta love that. I´m not too sure about Nightmare´s explanation about Killer would feel less about killing monsters from a different Au compared to his own, but it was the best I could come up with.
> 
> Horror´s next and he´s not going to be as willing to join the gang as Killer was.


	3. Meeting Horror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The monsters in Horrortale is slowly dying and Horror don´t know what to do. With no humans falling down, gathering food is no easy matter. But when he stumples upon a strange skeleton in the woods who offers him a deal and a change to get away from starvation, will he take it? He can´t if it means leaving Papyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to just publish more chapters bacause why not? I am done with almost this whole story, only missing Cross. And while I am nervous about showing my work, I am also very excited. I´ve always been shy about my stories, but yeah, if no one reads them and tell me about what is good and what could be better, then I´ll never improve. 
> 
> And I´ve also now discovered how hard it actually is to tag. It seems so simple, but when you need to tag, you suddenly become blank about what you should tag. I hope I become better at that too.

“Ouch, that hurts ya know.”

“Maybe if you sat still it wouldn´t hurt so much.”

“Well, maybe if you didn´t put pressure on it, it wouldn´t be so bad.”

“Would you rather have I let it be because trust me, then it would hurt a lot more. Now sit still and stop your whining while I heal this.”

Killer crosses his arms with a pout on his face. He knows Nightmare was right, that didn´t mean he was going to admit it. They had once again been in a fight against Ink and Dream, both sides returning home with injuries. Nightmare hadn´t gotten hurt this time and was the one to send his brother with a bit of negativity, injuring his brother too much to fight back. Killer got one severe injury while fighting Ink, which was his own fault, much to his embarrassment. 

During the fight he had accidentally slipped on the ground and landed rather awkwardly on one of his legs. The pain was merciless, but he didn´t have time to examine it before the fight continued. Even with the pain from his leg he managed to slice Ink a couple of times with his knife. 

The fight ended not long after that. Ink heard Dream´s scream of pain and quickly ran to his side, knocked Nightmare out of the way and teleported both of them out of the Au.  
While Nightmare had been annoyed by that, both from being pushed and them escaping when he was having so much fun, he was pleased by the results. 

A crash behind him reminded him he wasn´t alone and turning around, he now noticed the condition of Killer´s leg. It certainly looked painful and despite Killer not showing it, Nightmare knew the other was in a lot of pain. 

Killer sat on the ground, holding his leg against him. When he noticed Nightmare´s staring, he stood up again but only let his good leg supporting his body. 

Nightmare rolled his eyes at Killer and teleported them back to the hideout, despite Killer´s protest. Those protest only continued when Nightmare wanted to heal the leg, not wanting to waste the others energy. Nightmare had ignored Killer´s complaining and started healing the leg.

When Killer could walk around without feeling any pain, he thanked Nightmare, who only waved a hand like he was being bothered by a fly. It still annoyed him that he cared about Killer, more than he would like to admit.

Later that day Nightmare started to think about adding another member to his little team. Killer was doing a great job in spreading negativity and keeping Ink, sometimes Dream, busy while Nightmare dealt with the other. And while Killer was strong, he was up against a God and one people saw as a God. He would usually be the first one to get tired and the first one to get hurt. His injuries were rarely severe, but Nightmare was afraid one day Ink and Dream was done given him chances to run away and turn him to dust.

Ink rarely erased one of his creations. He preferred to create not destroy. But if he saw Killer being too much of a problem, he may consider it. 

Nightmare felt worried about that possibility while looking over at Killer, who was fast asleep on the couch. The thought of losing Killer, especially because of Ink or his brother, angered him. 

Maybe Killer could use a partner? Someone to watch his back when Nightmare couldn´t. And keep him company at the hideout when Nightmare wanted to be left alone. Killer may not ever admit it, but he didn´t like to be alone for too long, maybe thanks to his loneliness in his own Au.

And another addition to the team would only make them stronger. Nightmare smiled at the idea. The question was; who could fill that role?

***

Horror stared blankly in front of him, watching the snow fall to the ground. He hadn´t eaten for a long time and his last meal could barely be described as a meal. He had trouble finding something edible lately. No human had falling down in forever, and he could not determine if that was good or bad. 

The humans were definitely the most edible thing down there, at least when they were there. But Horror rarely enjoyed killing them, at least he thought he didn´t enjoy it. It was necessary if he wanted to survive and at the beginning he always felt remorse for doing it. Now though, he didn´t feel anything about it. When he saw a human, he only saw an easy meal, and an opportunity to do something. A human was a good test subjects to his traps, and it meant Papyrus wouldn´t see them get killed.

His brother was always eager to test his puzzles, see if they could kill a human. Horror knew they could, but they were too obvious just lying in the snow and not big enough to avoid. The humans easily walked past them.

Horror had multiple times killed a human and dragged the body to his brother´s traps, making it look like it was Papyrus and not Horror who had killed them. His brother always got so happy when he saw the body of a human in his traps.

It was hard for Horror to see his brother like that. Papyrus, who never had wanted to hurt anyone, was now happy to see a dead human. It   
wasn´t natural, but it was how their world worked now.

But it had been forever since a human fell down and it was noticeable. Humans were not the only food source they had, but it wouldn´t be long before they were. If humans no longer fell down to the Underground, all monsters would die of starvation.

Horror had helped at much as he could. Every time he found some food nowadays, he would give it to those in Snowdin who needed it the most or to Papyrus. Papyrus loved making meals and it always brought a smile to his face when the monsters ate it. He still couldn´t cook, but when the entire Underground was slowly dying of hunger, not many monsters was critical about the food they got.

Horror felt weak at the moment. The hunger was starting to get to him, but he was too weak to look for any. Maybe it wouldn´t be so bad to die of hunger? It would put him out of his misery, but then what would happen to his brother? Papyrus was the only reason Horror still cared, the reason he tried. But at the moment he couldn´t help but wonder what different it made. It would only be a matter of time before the Underground ran out of food. With no humans falling down, it wouldn´t be long before that happened.

Horror sighed and hid deeper into in his jacket. The wind was very cold today, and while the temperature normally wouldn´t affect Horror too much, the air felt different, somehow.

Horror really didn´t want to find the source for it, if there even was one, but he got up from his station anyway and started the walk into the woods. There was a chance it could be a human, but Horror doubted it.

He turned out to be correct. Barely a mile into the woods he found the source of the cold air. A skeleton seemingly covered in tar and four tentacles coming out of his back stared back at him. The creature had his hands hidden in his hoodies pockets and had only one blue eye. He smiled at Horror, but didn´t do anything.

Horror blinked a couple of times to make sure he wasn´t hallucinating. His only red eye glowed slightly from his eye socket. He had never seen this monster before, but he doubted the creature before him was friendly. He had however not attacked him yet, and Horror would this time avoid a fight if he could. He did not have the energy to fight, and this time it was not because he was too lazy to do it.

Horror held his axe before him in a threatening manner and asked in what he hoped was a confident and not weak tone; “What do ya want here, buddy?”

“To offer you a deal.”

“A deal?” Horror lowered the axe a little and stared confused at the other.

“Yep, a deal. If you come with me and work for me, I can promise you, you would always have access to food.”

Horror took a step back. That was expected. While the deal sounded easy enough, Horror wasn´t sure of it for several reasons. He had never met this monster before and wasn´t sure what would happen if he went with him. More importantly, he could not leave Papyrus behind. Who knew what would happen if Horror just left him?

The tar covered skeleton smiled wider and chuckled slightly. “We both know it will only be a matter of time before you die here. You are starving, Horror, it won´t be long before you snap. What would happen then? Are you sure you can control yourself if that happened?”

Horror shuddered. He had dreamt many times he snapped and killed everyone. Despite him wanting to help monsters from starvation, he did not feel that much about killing them. He had done that from time to time. Sometimes because they needed food, other times because the monster begged him to put them out of their misery. Many monsters had lost hope and just wanted to die, but couldn´t bring themselves to do it, so they would ask others to end it for them.

No, Horror was afraid he would snap in front of his brother. Afraid he would one day go completely insane from hunger and kill his own brother for his own survival. He would wake up screaming and covered in sweat. He would quickly check on Papyrus, making sure he was okay, before spending the rest of the night in the woods to make sure his nightmare didn´t become a reality. 

Horror tightened his grip on his axe. “You don´t know me, and I sure don´t know you. Why would I go with you?” he asked.

“Because I can give you a future, a purpose to live again. You have nothing here, Horror, why stay?”

Horror´s red eye shined brighter and he growled. “As long as I have Papyrus, I have everything I need.” He pointed the axe towards the other skeleton. “Who are you?”

“The name´s Nightmare.”

Nightmare wasn´t faced by the weapon pointed in his direction. It couldn´t hurt him. He sighed inwardly at the mention of this Sans´ Papyrus. It was typical for a Sans to care more about their Papyrus than anything else. Nightmare knew this version Sans still had a Papyrus, which would make it harder for him to get the other to join his team.

He figured Horrortale Sans would be a great addition. This Sans was without a doubt a murderer and really strong. Thanks to the injury to his skull he could no longer use magic as well as before, but he had adapted and now used weapons like butcher knives and axes.  
It would be such a waste if he died by starvation.

Nightmare could not force the other to join, or at least not without the high possibility that Horror would attack him later on. He had for a slight moment considered killing this Au´s Papyrus, raising the possibility for Horror to join. However, if Horror found out it was him who killed his brother, he would without a doubt snap.

No, if Horror were to join, he had to go willingly.

Nightmare had considered asking this Au´s Papyrus to join his team too. This Papyrus was definitely more twisted than most Papyrus´; however, he was still a total goofball. If this Papyrus got food and no longer had to worry about hunger, he would probably go back to be like most Papyrus´; merciful, kind and wanting to be everyone’s friend.

Nightmare could not use that in his team.

“Think about it, Horror. I´m not asking you to abandon your Papyrus, you can come back to your Au from time to time,” Nightmare started up again. “I will be back and get your answer later. I hope you make the right decision.”

With that said Nightmare teleported away from Horrortale without given the other skeleton a chance to answer.

Horror was left alone in the woods, his hunger temporarily forgotten. That was unexpected. He had barely registered the tar covered skeleton called him Horror instead of Sans. Considering they did look a lot alike, maybe it wasn´t so strange.

Horror went home with a lot to think about.

***

“You sure this skeleton is up for it? I mean, he sounds pretty…”

“Crazy?”

“Well, yeah, but so are we. I would have said hesitant. If he joins, don´t you think he would be too distracted worrying about his Papyrus?”

“It´s a possibility, but it wouldn´t hurt to give him a chance. He can always return. His world is slowly dying, Killer, it would be a shame if he died.”

Killer blinked a couple of times before he smirked. “You´re worried about him, aren´t you?”

Nightmare turned around to face the other skeleton, a look of disbelief on his face. “What?! I only care about making this team stronger, Killer, you know that!”

“I do, but that doesn´t change the fact you are worried about this Horror fella. Horror sounds strong and would make the team stronger, but his loyalty to his Papyrus could get in the way. Why not go after one who won´t have that distraction? Unless you don´t want Horror to die.”

Killer knew he was pressing Nightmare´s buttons. He knew Nightmare saw himself as a cold being that didn´t care about anyone but himself, however Killer had noticed the worried looks sent his way when he got hurt in a battle. Not to mention all the times Nightmare would use his energy to heal him. Killer may be wrong, but he was sure Nightmare wasn´t as cold as people (and Nightmare) wanted him to be.

Before Killer could be lost in his thoughts, a black tentacle pressed him against the wall closest to him. Killer cried slightly out of the sudden attack, but not because he got hurt.  
Nightmare was in his face not long after. “Don´t test me, Killer,” he growled warningly. “Or I will show you how cold I can be.”

He let Killer go and left the room after that. Despite his threat, he knew he didn´t want to hurt Killer, but he would if the other skeleton didn´t watch his mouth around him.  
Killer, in the meantime, slid down the wall and landed on the ground. He looked after Nightmare, the knowing smirk still plastered on his face. “Whatever you say, Boss.”

***

Horror lay on the couch in the house he shared with his brother. Despite how many times he tried, he could not fall asleep. Nightmare´s words echoed in his skull.  
It would be nice to leave this world. After all, when it came down to it, what was left for him here? Papyrus. He stood his ground at that. He could not leave Papyrus. Who knew what would happen to him if Horror left?

But a huge part of him wanted a different life. He did not know this Nightmare Sans, but he could give him something different. A new life. Something else to do. The question was would it be worth it? 

The door slammed open and his Papyrus walked in, proudly holding a bowl with something in it. His smile widened when he saw his brother. “SANS, I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU,” he walked over to his brother with the bowl and showed it contents to him. “I FOUND THIS APPLE ON ONE OF THE TREES. IT DOES NOT LOOK BAD IN ANY WAY.” He held said apple out to his brother. “WOULD YOU LIKE IT?”

Horror looked at the red apple in front him, suddenly reminded of how hungry he still was. But if he was hungry, Papyrus was likely so. He sat up on the couch and with a lazy smile, shook his head. “You keep it, Pap. I know you must be hungry.”

Papyrus frowned. “I DON´T KNOW A MONSTER WHO ISN´T,” he started and then looked worried down at his brother. “BUT I ALSO KNOW YOU HAVE NOT EATEN ANYTHING FOR SEVERAL DAYS, SANS. I KNOW YOU HELP OTHER MONSTERS AND I´M PROUD OF YOU FOR IT, BUT IF YOU DON´T START TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF…”

Horror sighed and nodded in understanding. He didn´t need to say anything. They have had this conversation at least once a week.

Nightmare´s words from earlier echoed in his head again. He could always return to his world. He could always go back to Papyrus. If he went with Nightmare, he could probably gather food from wherever he would be going and bring it home. He may not be able to gather enough for everyone, but he should be able to gather enough for Papyrus and for him to make meals to the monsters in Snowdin. That way Papyrus would also be occupied while he was gone and would be look up to by the citizens of Snowdin, something his brother without a doubt would enjoy.

It still meant Horror would have to leave. And while he was promised he could return, he didn´t know how often he could.

“Papyrus, there´s something I need to tell you,” Horror said. He was torn about this decision, and wanted his brother´s opinion on the matter.

Papyrus listened to his brother´s tale, surprising even himself with how quit he stayed thought the whole story. When Horror had finished what had happened and told his thoughts about it, Papyrus smiled wider than he had for a long time.

He stood up from the couch and without warning lifted his brother up in the air and held him close. “WOWIE, BROTHER, THAT IS WONDERFULL NEWS!” he said.

Horror wrapped his arms around Papyrus by instinct, a look of confusion on his face. “Ya think so?” he asked. “I would leave you here alone.”

Papyrus held his brother out at arms length so they could look each other in the eyes. “I AM NOT ALONE. I HAVE EVERYONE IN SNOWDIN, AND WHILE I WILL MISS YOU DEARLY, YOU CANNOT LET THIS OPPORTUNITY PASS. I AM THANKFULL YOU WANT TO STAY HERE FOR ME, BUT I KNOW YOU ARE NOT HAPPY HERE, SANS, AND I WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY. SO PLEASE, FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE, THINK ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHAT YOU WANT.”

Horror smiled at his brother, tears starting to form in his eye sockets. “You really are the coolest brother, Papyrus.”

“NYEH HEH, BUT OF COURSE. I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS AFTERALL.” Papyrus sat Horror down on the couch again. “BUT COME. IF YOU ARE GOING WITH THIS NIGHTMARE MONSTER, I WOULD LIKE ONE FULL DAY WITH MY BROTHER BEFORE HE LEAVES.”

Horror chuckled and followed his younger brother. He wasn´t sure what to expect, but for the first time in a long time he felt excited.

***

Nightmare returned to Horrortale the following day. He stumbled upon Horror the same place as yesterday, in the woods. At the sight of the bloodied skeleton, the first thing he noticed were the other skeleton wore more weapons than yesterday, which could mean two things. When Horror spotted Nightmare and didn´t grab any of the weapons, Nightmare smiled slightly and stepped closer.

“You made your decision?”

Horror placed his hands in his hoodies pockets. “Depends,” he answered and looked Nightmare in the eye. “What exactly do you need me for? What do you expect me to do?”

“Long story short; I´m a being of negativity. I need negative energy to become stronger, and I need monsters to spread negativity for me. I figured you would be excellent at that.”

One look at Horror would probably spread fear in most monsters. His crack in his skull, his glowing, red eye, his wicked smile and of course the weapons he carries with him. 

Horror nodded. “And I can return anytime I want?”

“When we just are at the hideout; yes. I cannot have you going back here when we spread negativity, but I cannot see why not when we don´t do anything.”

Horror nodded again, he no longer looked at Nightmare but at the ground. It was still hard to leave Papyrus behind, which made him hesitate. He had debated leaving since he left his home this morning. Even though he had said goodbye to Papyrus, it was still hard to just leave him; something he never though he would do. But he could come back, he will come back.

Horror looked up again. “Alright, I´ll join ya.”

***

“Killer, meet our newest member; Horror.”

Killer would have rolled his pinpricks if he still had them; he already knew the new skeleton. Well, not on a personal level, but the bloodied skeleton had been the most spoken topic since Nightmare wanted the team to grow stronger.

“´sup,” said Horror with a small wave.

Killer smiled. “Heya, name´s Killer, as you just heard.” He looked turned his head to the weapons Horror carried. “That´s a lot of weapons. You get out much?”

“You could say that.”

Killer eyed the butcher knife tucked in Horror´s hoodie. “Mind if I take a look at that?”

Horror handed him the butcher knife. The knife was big and clean, clearly being taken care of. It looked a little worn; showing it had been used a lot. Killer tested the sharpness of the knife and poked one of his phalanges against the blade. The blade cut through the bone, but not by much. Killer didn´t even flinch when it happened, nor when he removed the knife again.

“Nice weapon,” commented Killer and threw the butcher knife back to Horror, who caught it with one hand. “Though I must admit I prefer a regular knife.”

“Really? I do prefer an axe over knives. A regular knife is so small; it can´t do as much damage as a butcher knife.”

“Well, it depends on the knife. I agree my knife isn´t big, but trust me when I say, it can do a lot of damage.”

Horror smiled slightly. “Well, I haven´t had a challenge for a long time. Care to show me how much that knife of yours can do?”

Killer´s smiles widened. “With pleasure.”

Nightmare rolled his eye at the two skeletons. This is what happens when he picks two skeletons that use knives as weapons. Well, it was better than having them at each other’s throat. 

“Just don´t hurt each other too badly. I ain´t gonna heal ya.”

Killer and Horror was already on their way out the front door.

“That´s Nightmare for ya,” Killer said on the way out. “He may sound like he doesn´t care, but in reality he would be out of his mind if one of us got hurt.”

“Killer, I´m warning you.”

“Come on, Boss, ya know it´s true.”

“Killer.”

“Okay, okay, I´ll stop. For now.” Killer added under his breath, which make Horror snicker.

Horror was still a little unsure about his decision. But while he fought against Killer, he couldn´t help but wonder that maybe this was where he belonged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I´ve always seen Horror as being one of the most hesitant about joining Nightmare´s gang, exactly because he still cares about his Papyrus. I also am not sure what Horrortale Papyrus is called, so I just called him Papyrus.
> 
> Also, I´m not too sure about the meeting between Horror and Killer, but I didn´t want it to fill too much nor last too long, but I think it ended up okay.


	4. Terrors in the night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare and Killer deal with Horror having a nightmare.

Nightmare woke up to the sound of a scream and a crash. He rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. Another crash could be heard. Nightmare groaned slightly and stood up from his bed, going towards the sound of the crash.

It had been some time since Horror joined and life at the hideout had been much livelier since then. Killer and Horror was like clued to each other and caused as much trouble as they could. Nightmare couldn´t count the times he had to stop the duo from doing something stupid. 

Horror had proven to be a good addition to his team. Together with Killer the two of them spread so much negativity, Nightmare didn´t need to do anything himself. Of course, while it was fun to watch the other two have the time of their life, it was also fun to be part of their chaos.

They haven´t stumbled upon Ink or Dream since Horror joined, so Nightmare had no idea how good his new team member was against those two, but considering he fought well against Killer, Nightmare was not too worried about it.

Another crash could be heard. Nightmare now stood in front of Horror´s door, but before he entered the room, the sound of another crash was heard followed by bones being thrown and stuck at the door. Nightmare took a moment to look at the bones in the door. They looked like any other bone attack being performed by a skeleton monster, except these bones were sharper and covered in blood; definitely Horror´s work.

Nightmare opened the door, ready to demand from the new skeleton what his problem was, but another bone attack sent his way stopped him from saying anything. Nightmare blocked the attack with his tentacles and growled slightly. He was not in the mood for whatever Horror was doing.

Now that he could see inside the room without being attacked, he was shocked at what he saw. The room was littered in bone attacks from the skeleton. Some knives were stuck to the wood of the floor and the bed. But what surprised Nightmare the most was Killer, who was holding Horror down in the middle of the room.

Horror summoned another bone attack and sent it toward Killer. It would have hit Killer right in the skull if it wasn´t for Nightmare stopping the attack.

“What is going on here?!” Nightmare demanded.

Killer struggled to hold Horror in his grip. “Dunno, Boss. I woke up to Horror screaming and when I checked up on him, he attacked me. He isn´t responding to anything I say.”

Nightmare took a closer look at Horror; his eye sockets were closed. “He´s having a nightmare.”

Horror got free from Killer´s grip and swung the skeleton to the wall with blue magic. Killer fell to the ground with a grunt and quickly teleported next to Nightmare´s side, as Horror sent another attack after him.

“Great, how do we snap him outta it?”

Nightmare looked Killer over. He wasn´t wearing his hoodie, only his shorts and his white T-shirt, which have been ribbed several places thanks to all the attacks sent its way. Killer panted slightly and had lost some HP from holding Horror down, but he didn´t seem injured.

Nightmare looked over at Horror next. The bloodied skeleton seemed to have calmed down a little now that no one was holding him. The magic from his red eye could slightly be seen from behind his closed eye socket. 

“I´ll try and snap him outta it. You find some food for him. It may help him calm down.”

Killer nodded and was gone with a poof. That left Nightmare alone with the panicked skeleton. Nightmare had no idea what to do. Holding Horror down only seemed to make it worst, but he had to make the skeleton realize whatever he was seeing wasn´t real.

Nightmare slowly made his way closer to Horror. Despite Horror still hasn’t opened his eye sockets, he may feel the movements around him. If these movements were fast, it could panic him even more. Nightmare needed to keep the skeleton calm.

Finally coming close enough to Horror, Nightmare shook him a little awkwardly, hoping it was enough to wake him. “Horror, wake up. You´re having a nightmare.”

Horror froze at the touch and remained silent for a moment. Nightmare thought for a moment the nightmare had left Horror and he simple slept on like nothing had happened. That hope was crushed when Horror suddenly stood up from the ground, his eye sockets now open. Nightmare stared into his empty eye sockets; even his red eye glow was gone. 

Not a second later it returned when Horror used his magic and threw Nightmare away from him, but not far enough to hit anything. Nightmare suddenly felt a hold on his soul, making it harder for him to move.

Horror didn´t move, one arm now outstretched as bones formed in the air around him. He had a wicked smile on his face, but Nightmare could see he was shaking.

“I´m sorry,” Horror said with a shaking voice. “I… I have to… My brother is… starving… I won´t let that happen.”

The bloodied bones inched a little closer to Nightmare, but not much. Whatever Horror was seeing in his haze made him hesitate, or he was finally realizing what he was seeing wasn´t real.

Whatever the case Nightmare took this opportunity to act. Horror´s magic was not strong enough to hold him, but it did make him slower in reaching him again. He grabbed each side of Horror´s skull, forcing him to look at him. “Horror, you need to snap out of it,” he demanded as comforting as he could. “You are having a nightmare. Your brother´s not starving. And neither are you. You are safe. Whatever you´re seeing is not real.” 

Killer had returned and stood silently in the doorframe, some food and a water bottle in his hands.

Horror blinked, something Nightmare haven´t seen him do through it all. His red eye light slowly toned down in its brightness, until it barely glowed anymore. He released Nightmare from his hold and the bones around them both disappeared. 

He blinked again and looked Nightmare in the eye, only now really seeing who was in front of him.

“Night… mare?” Horror whispered, remembering where he was.

Nightmare nodded and let go of the other skeleton.

Horror looked at him a moment longer, until he saw the damage he had done to his room. Several bones and a couple of knives had been thrown everywhere in the room, not a single thing hadn´t been hit at least once. 

He spotted Killer in the doorframe, eye sockets widening at the state his T-shirt was in. Horror gulped and looked down in shame. He was still shaking. 

Nightmare sighted slightly in relief and waved Killer closer to them both. He took the items from Killer with a thankful nod and held them out to Horror, but Horror kept his gaze on the ground.

“Horror?” Nightmare whispered, putting a reassuring hand on the others shoulder.

Horror flinched slightly at the touch. He slowly lifted his gaze and looked at Nightmare. “´m sorry,” he whispered. “I… I should have told you guys about my… problem.”

Nightmare gave him the water bottle. “No need to apologize, it happens.”

Horror drank more than half of the bottle. Nightmare handed him the food afterwards, which he slightly nibbled at. He lifted his gaze up to Killer. “I… didn´t hurt you, did I?”

It seemed like a silly question when looking at Killers T-shirt. Killer shook his head. “You did throw me against a wall, but I´m alright.”

Horror looked down again. “`m sorry,” he repeated. “I… I didn´t… didn´t mean to hurt you. I never… never want to hurt… any of you.”

Killer smiled slightly and knelt down to Horror´s level on the ground. “Hey, it´s okay,” he laid a hand on the others shoulder. “I´m fine. It´s a good thing you´re aim´s a little off when you´re sleeping.”

Horror chuckled slightly, but didn´t look up.

“Hey, how about we watch a movie?” Killer suggested. “That always calms you down and may help you fall asleep again.”

Horror shook his head. “I… can´t. I won´t hurt you… again.”

“You won´t hurt me. I trust you…” Killer trailed off. “Can you remember what you´re nightmare was about?”

Horror kept silent for a moment. He didn´t really confess his unease, but looking at Killer´s ripped T-shirt made him feel guilty and confess his dream. “I dreamt… I was back in Horrortale… back when we realized we were running out of food… I would search for humans or monsters… Papyrus hadn´t eaten in days… I… I couldn´t let him die.”

Killer nodded. “Maybe we could lay some food on your bed table?” he offered. “It may help you realize where you are and what is real?”

Nightmare thought about Killer´s suggestion. It could work, probably not all the time. If Horror had an episode like tonight, he wouldn´t even see anything other than whatever his nightmare showed him. It could work on less extreme episodes. Nightmare would have to think about it. In the morning. It was in the middle of the night and he was tired.

Horror fought to keep his eye sockets open; all the magic he used in such a short while drained him of energy. Nightmare carefully picked him up. Horror could not sleep in his bed for the rest of this night; the bed was destroyed. So Nightmare gently carried him down the stairs and over to the couch. Killer following behind with a pillow and a blanket.

Together the two of them made sure Horror lay comfortable on the couch before leaving. Horror had fallen asleep while Nightmare carried him down the stairs.

Killer yawned and started to walk back to his own room, when a hand on his shoulder stopped him and spun him around.

“Are you really okay?” Nightmare asked in a tone that indicated he wouldn´t accept a lie.

Killer brushed Nightmare´s hand off of him. “Nightmare, I´m fine, really,” Killer reassured and looked down at his T-shirt with a frown. “Though I might need a new shirt.”

Nightmare rolled his eye. “We need more than just a new shirt for you after that,” he said, remembering the state of Horror´s room.

Killer nodded, and then frowned slightly. “You think Horror´s gonna be okay down there by himself?” he asked. “I´ve never seen him like that before.

Nightmare smiled slightly at Killer, but was too tired to tease him about caring about someone else. “You can sleep in the living room if you want to,” he said and walked past Killer. “I´m going to bed.”

Killer watched the other go with a tired smile. “´Kay. ´Night Boss,” he said, before he went to his own room to grab his pillow and a couple of blankets. The floor in the living was after all not the softest place to sleep. He knew that from experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was Horror´s chapters. Next up is Dust and I have to admit, I´m excited about those two chapters ;)


	5. Meeting Dust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare, Killer and Horror tries to get Dust to join the gang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did plan on posting this and chapter 6 with the three other chapters yeasterday, but then I realized how late it was and I needed to wake up early today, so it had to wait ;)

The air was cold, which was normal around Nightmare, but for some reason it felt different here. The air was filled with dust. No matter where you looked, dust would surround the area. None of them could see any monsters, Nightmare couldn´t feel any monsters emotions other than the two skeletons beside him.

“So, this is Dusttale?” Horror felt a breeze wave at his hoodie.

“There ain´t many people here.”

Nightmare opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden emotion of fear stopped him. Looking to his right he saw Killer walking slightly away from them, towards the Ruins door. The doors to the Ruins were open, not far from the doorframe lay a big pile of dust.

Killer looked at the dust in a haze, showing no emotion.

Nightmare followed after Killer to the Ruins. After the incident with Horror´s nightmare, Killer no longer wore a white T-shirt under his hoodie, but a black one, which made his target formed soul seem even brighter. He also no longer wore the comfortable slippers, having replaced them with a pair of blue sneakers.

Killer looked over his shoulder at Nightmare. “This looks just like when I killed the monsters in my Au,” he said in an even tone.

Nightmare could have slapped himself. He knew Dusttales` story. He knew this Au were empty except for the one monster they were looking for. Just like in Killertale, this versions Sans had gone on a genocide run, but for a whole other reason.

Killertale and Dusttale would look a lot like each other because of that, meaning Killer may not see Dusttale in front of him anymore, but his own AU. Maybe bringing Killer along wasn´t such a good idea after all.

Killer may not feel as much pain about killing most of the monsters in his AU anymore, he did not however like being reminded about what he had done. His feelings towards what he had done seemed to change, seemed to depend on the day. Sometimes Killer would break down, cutting himself as punishment for doing the thing most Sans´ would try to stop; preventing the human for doing a genocide run. Other times he was either happy about killing everyone or just didn´t care.

Horror lay a reassuring hand on Killers shoulder. “Hey, remember, this isn´t your world, Killer.” He raised his axe a little and smiled. “Come on, we are gonna meet our new friend.”

Killer smiled at Horror. Raising his knife, he let the two weapons cling against each other before looking around the woods outside the Ruins, putting his memories aside. Nightmare was grateful for that. Killer luckily was brought back before he could drown in his memories. Now they just needed to find this world´s Sans. Considering he must be the only monster still alive, it shouldn’t be too difficult.

“Well, well, well, that ain´t something you see every day, do you, Pap?”

Like they shared the same mind in different bodies, Nightmare, Killer and Horror turned around. Not far from them stood the monster they came here for; Dust.

This versions Sans stood with a big grin. He was wearing his hood, which cast a shadow over half of his skull. If you looked closely, you would be able to see one red light and one red/purple light where the monster´s eyes should be.

“Every monster did after all sacrifice themselves for me. They were a worthy sacrifice.” The dust covered skeleton looked at the new arrivals in his AU. He frowned slightly, the grin remained. “I do not believe I´ve seen you three before… Have you been hiding when all of this took place?” He lifted his head, revealing more of his skull. “That´s very selfish, ya know. I could have stopped the human sooner if you had come out of hiding.”

Dust looked over his shoulder, like he was looking at someone whispering to him.

“You don´t believe they are from here, Pap?” he asked the empty air. “That would make more sense.”

Killer and Horror looked confusedly at Nightmare. “Who is he talking to?” asked Horror.

Nightmare kept his eye on the dusty skeleton. Dust was insane, strong and unpredictable. They needed to be ready if he decided to attack. “He believes the phantom of his brother is following him.”

Dust turned his eyes to look at the three strangers, his head still slightly tilted to hear the words of his brother´s phantom.

_Kill them._

“But I already killed the human, Pap. I don´t need to kill anymore.”

_What if they come back? You need to be ready, Sans. After all, the human always comes back._

Dust faced them fully again, his smile widening. “You´re right as always, Paps,” he said. “I cannot be weak.”

The three skeletons on the other side stood ready, having listened to half the conversation Dust had with his brother. None of them knew Dust´s full power, but at least two of them had good guessed to what Dust could do.

A purple flame spread from Dust´s left eye and not a moment later, several bones sprung up from the ground from where Dust stood to Nightmare and his gang. The three monsters all sprang to the side, dodging all the bones.

“Remember, don´t hurt him too badly,” Nightmare reminded the other two. “And stay on your guard. He´s stronger than he looks.”

Horror summoned bones from the ground, hindering a couple of sharp bones Dust had summoned to hit his cranium. He briefly wondered if Nightmare saw anyone as being as strong as they looked.

Killer, in the meantime, dodged every bone coming from the ground while slowly getting closer to Dust. The dust covered skeleton´s glowing eye lights reflected in Killer´s knife as it was swung at him. Dust easily dodged it and sent sharp bones after Killer. Killer jumped a couple of feet back and used his knife to cut the bones before they hit him.

Dust frowned slightly. Not even the human had been able to dodge his attacks as much as these two skeletons. While they kept dodging his attacks, he briefly looked over at the tar covered skeleton, who just stood to the side. He seemed to keep an eye on all of their moves.

Dust growled slightly. He hated when people dodged his attacks. He summoned bones around the blood covered skeleton, trapping him in a circle of bones. This gave Dust the opportunity to keep his full attention on the other skeleton that attacked him.

Dust once again summoned bones to attack the other skeleton, however this time he sends more after Killer. He had had enough already by fighting these two. It was weird enough they looked so much like him, they clearly also knew about his attacks and how to counter them.

Killer dodged most of the bones sent at him, hissed in pain at the few that hit him. He raised his knife and ran towards Dust. More summoned bones from the ground slowed him down, bringing his HP even lower, but not enough to stop him. Before Dust could escape, he was hit in the arm by Killer´s knife.

Dust hissed in pain and with his blue attack sent Killer flying away from him. The cut had cut through his hoodie and left a mark on his bone. He looked over at Killer, who had landed near the tar covered skeleton. He wasn´t using his full power, which confused Dust.

He didn´t have time to think about it. The bloodied skeleton had finally cut his way through all the bones surrounding him. He held his axe in his left hand, ready to attack.

Killer rose to his feet and after seeing Horror was now keeping Dust busy, turned his attention on Nightmare, who had his blue eye clued on the fight between Dust and Horror.

“Aren´t you enjoying yourself?”

Nightmare kept his attention on the fighting skeletons. “Dust is clearly not used to people dodging as much as you two do,” Nightmare observed. “He is becoming frustrated.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Depends. I would like to see Dust´s full power, but playing with him too much would hinder him joining us.”

Killer looked over at Dust. It was clear the skeleton enjoyed fighting, but he was also slowly starting to lose his energy to continue. Even from this distance, Killer could slightly hear the insane skeleton talk to his brother, or more accurate; himself.

“Are you sure he is fit to join?” Killer asked, looking back at Nightmare. “He is definitely strong. He has Determination, which makes him dangerous. But I must admit I am worried about this whole phantom thing. If Dust believes Papyrus is following him, and if he believes Papyrus expects him to kill everyone, how can we trust him?”

Nightmare sighed. “I had thought about that a lot, especially during your fight with him. He keeps talking to this phantom, which distracts him more than I believe he´s aware off. Not to mention it wants him to kill everyone he meets, including us. I´m not sure we can talk him into sparing us.”

“So what do we do? Just leave?”

Nightmare shook his head. “Dust has potential; he would be a valuable member if he joins. But his mind is far gone. I cannot trust him to not attack us.”

“I repeat myself; what do we do then?”

Nightmare finally looked at Killer. “We get him to join us,” he answered. “And after he´d become part of the gang, we make him realize his brother is dead.”

Killer looked back at the fight and the maniac skeleton. Nightmare´s plan sounded easy enough, but they both knew it wasn´t going to be that easy. There´s also the possibility, if they brought some of Dust´s sanity back, he would realize his brother is dead and that it´s his fault. That could break him.

Dust and Horror looked at each other. Both of them were tired after fighting for so long, sweat could be seen on both of their skulls. Horror seemed more tired and hurt than Dust, thanks to holding back by demands of Nightmare. He had taking several hits, which slows him down. He held his ground and tightened his grip on his axe. If Nightmare or Killer didn´t do anything soon, Horror would have to attack the skeleton for real, before the other turned him to dust.

Dust still haven´t figured out why the other skeleton didn´t use his full power. His brother´s phantom convincing him it was because he was patronizing him and needed to prove how strong he was. Dust couldn’t make sense of that, but it was the only explanation that made sense.

Dust has had enough. He was getting tired, both from the fighting and the constant dodging. He had had his fun in fighting this skeleton, but it was time to end it. He summoned bones around the both of them, making sure Horror was distracted by it.

While Horror fought the bones, a familiar sound brought his attention right back at Dust. Dust smiled wickedly while two Gaster Blasters with purple eyes hovered above him. The two Blasters gathered their energy, forming purple magic between their sharp teeth. With a single hand wave, Dust signaled the Blasters to fire.

Horror widened his eye in slight fear as the beams of purple light went towards him. His axe had no chance against those two beams, and he was too tired to teleport himself away to a safe distance.

The familiar sound of a Gaster Blaster could be heard behind him. Horror turned just in time to see one big, goop-spilling Gaster Blaster fire its own beam towards Dust´s Blasters. The two Blasters disappeared, leaving Dust stunned for a moment.

Before Dust could do anything else, a tentacle grabbed around his leg and held him upside down in the air. Dust tried to use his magic to free himself, but another tentacle wrapped around him, preventing him from using his magic. Just like Horror, he was too tired to teleport away, and therefore had no other choice then accepts his capture.

Killer made his Gaster Blaster disappear and ran over to Horror, who had gotten down on his knees in exhausting. He smiled reassuring and thankful up at Killer, who clapped him on his shoulder. Both of them turned their attention on Nightmare and Dust.

Nightmare made sure Dust couldn´t do anything before bringing him closer. “That´s enough,” he growled. “Hurt him anymore and I will show you true pain.”

Dust glared at the dark skeleton, saying nothing.

“Here´s how the deal is; I´m gonna put you down, but if you even think about attacking any of us again, you will regret it. Understood?”

_Don´t listen to him, brother. Kill them_.

Dust wanted to make his brother happy and do as he was told, but he was too tired at the moment. With a silent sigh, he nodded to Nightmare.

Nightmare turned him around again so he could stand on his feet, before slowly setting him down. Both he and Killer were ready to contain Dust if it became necessary.

Dust also kept an eye on the three of them, in case they planned to attack him. When nothing happened, he walked over to a tree not far from them, sat down and leaned his back against the it. Still keeping his gaze on Nightmare, he waited for the other to speak.

Nightmare gave him a short version of his plan in spreading negativity and what Dust´s role would be, if he joined. Dust listened through everything Nightmare had to say, his expression barely changing. He would look to his left sometimes, without a doubt listening to his Papyrus.

_This is a perfect opportunity to become stronger, Sans._

“I dunno, Pap,” Dust answered his brother. “Why should I? I already beat Chara. We can finally move on peacefully.”

_But brother, with all the power you´ve gained, you can´t just move on peacefully. You´ve gained so much LV, but if you don´t continue, you´ll become weak again. You´ll go insane._

“I got everything under control, Pap.”

_Now you do, but for how long? You miss fighting other monsters, and humans. You enjoyed fighting against those two skeletons. You miss the adrenaline, the screams, the dust. The fear in your victims before bringing them your final attack._

Dusts eye sockets turned black. “I did not do it for pleasure, Pap. I did it because it was necessary.”

_You did, and I am proud of you for standing up for all of us to stop that human. But what if they come back? Stronger than before? You´ll be too weak to beat them. You´ll disappoint us all._

Dust looked thoughtful.

_It will be fun, Sans. You will not waste all the power we gave you, will you?_

Dust looked towards the ground, his hoodie casting a shadow over his eyes. Nightmare noticed his grin slowly widening and the purple magic slowly start to sparkle in his left eye socket. “So, what´s your decision, Dust?”

_It´s time to show the human how strong you really are._

Dust finally looked up. The purple flame was still there, but had died down a little. His smile no longer looked maniac, but confident. Instead of answering Nightmare, he answered his brother. “You´re right, Pap,” he started. “After all we´ve been through, we cannot risk the human taking it all from us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that´s how Dust joined. 
> 
> Btw, I got inspired by a comic made by the tumblr/deviantart user Ristorr while writing this chapter:
> 
> Link:  
> https://ristorr.tumblr.com/post/175510237405/the-episode-from-dusts-life-about-how-he-joined-a
> 
> It´s a short comic, but really good.
> 
> Also, while reading about Killer Sans, I discovered he could still use a Gaster Blaster, so I couldn´t help myself than making him use it. I love Gaster Blasters


	6. Facing the truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dust have for a long time believed his Papyrus is following him. Now Nightmare, Killer and Horror will try to make him realize that isn´t the case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got inspiration for this chapter by a comic made by deviantart user Jesuka.  
> Link to first page:  
> https://www.deviantart.com/jesuka/art/DustTale-Comic-Page-1-609158842

Living with Dust sometimes seemed like living in a training camp. Dust had only livid with them for a week, and the others had lost count on how many times Dust suddenly started to attack them. When that happened, no matter what time or if it weren´t against him, Nightmare would grab a hold on the other skeleton with his tentacles and keep him in a timeout, until Dust either didn´t want to attack them anymore or he got too tired to continue his attack when he were sat back down.

Nightmare, Killer and Horror had all started to make Dust realize the phantom of his brother was not real. When Dust didn´t attack them, he was fun to be around, made a lot of funny puns and talked about some theories he had been thinking about.

The others would bring the murder of Papyrus up for a short while, making Dust see the memory of his brother as he was turned to dust. He would laugh sadly at the memory, but smiled happy up at what he believed was his brother’s phantom, expressing how grateful he was that Papyrus was still with him even after death.

Horror always felt a little uncomfortable about that.

When they talked to Dust together, they would sometimes be so close to him, they hoped they would be in the way of the phantom. Dust did not seem to react much to that, however.

Now, living with Dust and all of his attacks became too much for Nightmare. He had never hurt Killer or Horror too badly, but without intertwine from Nightmare, one of the three would get badly hurt one day.

Dust had lived with them long enough for him to seem to trust them, to listen to Nightmare´s demands. Nightmare had several times sent Dust to an unknown AU and let him kill whoever he wanted. This let to Dust becoming too tired to try to attack any of them, until the sixth night, where he attacked Horror in the middle of the night.

Enough was enough. Nightmare though it was time to confront Dust about his Papyrus, trying to bring some of the skeleton´s sanity back. It was not going to be easy, nor very fun.

Dust was at the moment lazing around on the couch in the living room. Nightmare stood not far from him, crossed his arms and said; “Dust, we need to talk.”

Dust jumped slightly at the voice, not having noticed Nightmare´s presence. He relaxed slightly and smiled sheepishly. “If this is about me attacking Horror the other night, then I´m sorry,” he said. “I… didn´t see it was him for a moment.”

That was a _long_ moment, considering the two of them crashed half the mansion in that fight. Nightmare sighed inwardly, at least Dust showed signs to not want to hurt them any longer. “No, that is for another time,” he answered.

Dust tilted his head slightly to the left, waiting for Nightmare to continue.

This time Nightmare sighed out loud. “Dust, there is no easy way to tell you this, but…” He hesitated slightly. He did not want to break the skeleton before him, but he had to have this conversation with Dust. “Dust, you do know, you killed your Papyrus, right?”

It was better to just start it slow. Saying it bluntly would only leave Dust in denial. This way, he could make Dust face the truth. At least, he hoped he could.

“Of course,” Dust answered a little solemnly, before smiling again. “He sacrificed himself to make me stronger, so we could kill the human. He´s the coolest brother ever.”

“Yeah,” Nightmare agreed, despite not knowing the skeleton. “But he´s also dead, Dust. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah? Nightmare, I know Papyrus is dead, but I am blessed to still have him. He´s still with me.”

Nightmare shook his head. “No, Dust, no he is not. You killed your brother. Your brother turned to dust. He´s not with you, Dust, he hasn´t been with you since the day you killed him.”

Dust looked down. “I know you can´t see him, Nightmare.” He looked up again. “That doesn´t mean he´s not here. Papyrus is here with me. He had always been here with me.”

“Dust, the Papyrus you see is an imagination. Papyrus isn´t talking to you, your subconscious is.”

_He´s crazy._

Dust chuckled. “I know, Pap.”

Nightmare sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot around Dust. “Okay, let´s try something else,” he said while clasping his hands together. “Didn´t your Papyrus phantom say, when we met, you should kill us? Doesn´t he still do that?”

_Only because they would give a lot of LV. You know that, right Sans?_

Dust nodded to Papyrus´ question, but answered Nightmare´s. “Well, yes. I promise, it isn´t personal. And I´m sure he would one day see you as allies.”

_I doubt that._

Nightmare nodded. “Yeah, maybe. But Dust, why do Papyrus suddenly want you to kill other monsters? As far as I´m aware, Papyrus wouldn´t hurt anyone, and won´t want you to either.”

“That was before he saw what that human did. They killed everyone, we only fought back.”

“Dust, your Papyrus would never hurt anyone, even if they were about to kill him. We both know he believed in everyone to do better, even when you killed him.”

_“YOU DON´T HAVE TO DO THIS, SANS!”_

_“LET ME HELP YOU, SANS!”_

Dust stared, unblinking. Papyrus´ words echoed in his skull. He shook his head, trying to block them out. “He… He shouldn’t have put so much fate in that human. They didn´t deserve it… He… He knows that now.”

“He doesn´t, Dust. He died believing in the human… Later you.”

“No, no, no,” Dust grabbed the strings of his hoodie. “He´s… He´s still here, Nightmare. He… He wants me to gain more LV. I cannot be weak. I cannot be lazy anymore.”

_I´m so proud of you, Sans. I knew you one day would try more._

“He believes in me.”

“Dust, your Papyrus is dead,” Nightmare repeated, this time more firm. “He is _not_ with you anymore. He is _not_ following you around. He is _not_ encouraging you to gain more LV. He is dead, Dust.”

“Shut up.”

“You need to realize that, Dust. Papyrus is not here.”

“Shut up.”

“He is never coming back.”

“I said, SHUT UP!”

Dust stood up from the couch and slammed Nightmare away from him. His left eye had a purple flame surrounding it, tears leaping down from his eye sockets. “You don´t know what you´re talking about!” Dust sobbed. “Papyrus is here! I killed him, but he is still here! He will never leave me! We won! We are going to have a peaceful life now! Papyrus is still here with me!”

Nightmare wasn´t faced by the blow at him or the screaming from Dust. He looked at the skeleton´s tears, but he had to continue. This was only to help him. “He is not here, Dust.”

“You´re lying! He´s here! He always will be! Right, Papyrus?” Looking to his left, Dust expected to see his brother smiling back at him, but there was only air. Panic started to rise in Dust´s soul, completely forgetting Nightmare was with him as he started to look after his brother. “Papyrus?! Papyrus, where are you?! Papyrus?! Please, where are you?!”

“He´s dead, Dust. You need to face the truth,” Nightmare said.

Dust kept looking, his tears soaking his shirt. “Papyrus?! Papyrus?!”

“Dust.” Nightmare took a hold on the crying skeleton and made him look him in the eye. “He was never here.”

Dust shook his head and closed his eye sockets. Tears kept flooding. “No, no, no!” He got out of Nightmare´s grip. “Papyrus?! Where are you?! Please, answer me! Papyrus?!” He kept searching, eventually leaving the living room to search through the whole mansion.

Killer and Horror walked up behind Nightmare, having heard the whole conversation from the kitchen.

Nightmare looked at Killer. “Keep an eye on him,” he ordered.

Killer nodded and ran after the crying skeleton. Horror looked after both of them, feeling sympathy for Dust.

***

They left Dust alone for the rest of the day. Killer would follow him around, making sure the other wouldn´t notice him, not that that was difficult. Dust kept searching and screaming for his brother, sometimes he would break down in his search.

It took everything in Killer to not go over to Dust and comfort him. Nightmare had made it clear he was only to make sure Dust didn´t hurt himself or do something stupid. If he started to cry, break down or getting angry, Killer was not to interfere, not even if Dust began to see Papyrus again.

That happened in the evening, when Dust had almost passed out from searching for Papyrus. It happened in his room when he sat on his bed, not moving nor blinking. He asked after Papyrus again. He suddenly looked to his left side, a relieved smile took over his frown. He said something, but Killer was too far away to hear him. He was sure, however, that Dust saw his Papyrus again, if the happy smile was any indication. Dust passed out after that, tearstains could be seen on the side of his skull.

Killer went to get Nightmare and told him everything he had observed. Nightmare sent him after Horror, in case both of them were needed. Killer wasn´t sure what that meant, but did as he was told.

After waking the blood covered skeleton, both he and Killer went back to Nightmare, who stood in the doorframe of Dust´s bedroom. While keeping an eye on Dust, he whispered the plan; “I´m going to make Dust see his past in his dreams, including him killing his brother. He had been using a lot of energy today, so I hope the nightmare can last for at least an hour.” Nightmare looked at Killer and Horror. “I need you two to be ready to hold him down, fight him, comfort him, whatever needs to be done.”

“You sure this will help?” asked Killer.

“He needs to face the truth, and that truth is in his memories,” Nightmare answered. “Get ready; this is going to be a long night.”

Killer and Horror looked confused at each other; they couldn´t do anything until Dust woke up, and if what Nightmare predicted turned out to be true, they would not be needed until an hour. Nevertheless, the two of them went into the room, but stayed near the doorframe so Nightmare could concentrate.

Standing beside Dust´s bed, Nightmare began to let the skeleton see his past in his dreams. It didn´t take long before Dust started to turn and shake in his sleep. He would mumble from time to time, mostly about the human or Papyrus.

***

The human had reset again. He sometimes cursed his ability to know about the resets, knowing it was not the first time he greeted them outside the Ruins. They would always have a darkness surrounding them. He could always tell when they were choosing genocide.

Would they ever stop? He didn´t think so, but what could he do? Images had flashed before his eyes, trying to make him remember what had happened in the previous resets. It had been painful, both psychical and mental.

Dust was not sure how or why, but suddenly he could remember everything. All the times the human had chosen genocide, every time he warned them, every monster they killed. The pain of finding his brother´s dust and scarf in the snow.

Despite always given the kid a bad time, they would always beat him. They knew his attacks, they knew his pattern. He wasn´t a threat to them anymore, they always killed him. They would always start it all over again.

Dust had had enough. He did not want to see it all happen again. He could not just stand on the sidelines while everyone turned to dust around him. He should not wait for them in the golden judgments hall.

That fight had never been fair. The human had the highest LV he had ever seen, while he barely had any. Their ATK and DEF almost made them unstoppable; they were unstoppable thanks to their Determination.

What if they couldn´t become so strong? What if Dust became stronger? The thought scared him. To do that he had to gain LV, and the only way to do that were to kill the monsters in the underground. Would he protect them if he killed them?

He would stop the human. They had once almost given up, way back when they started the genocides. Back then it took them forever to kill him. If he gained all the LV and left nothing for them, they would only have an LV of 1, which would be no match against him. They would eventually give up. Even if they reset, the same would happen. He would kill them over and over again, just like they had done to the monsters.

Not wanting to waste time, he started by killing the monsters in Snowdin. It was weird to suddenly gain LV, but at the same time it felt right. He couldn´t stop. He killed everyone before the human. They were never fast enough to get the kills themselves. The Underground had been in a panic. Everyone heard about a traitorous monster. The Royal guard tried to stop him, Undyne tried to stop him, but none of them succeeded.

Then Dust had to kill the monster he cared about the most.

While Dust killed everyone, Papyrus had been searching for him. He had heard about the dangerous monster and wanted to warn his older brother, but his Sans was nowhere to be found. Papyrus had cried every time he saw a pile of dust, afraid it was his brother´s remains.

He had not expected to be attacked by his own brother.

Dust had brought Papyrus down on the ground. Marks from his attack could be seen on Papyrus´ battle armor. Papyrus had looked at him in fear, begging him to stop, but Dust couldn´t. There was no way back from this point.

“PLEASE, SANS, DON´T DO THIS,” Papyrus begged.

Dust had looked down, ashamed of what he was doing. “I´m sorry, Papyrus, I have to,” he answered. “I need more LV. I need to stop the human.”

“IT DOESN´T HAVE TO LIKE THIS! IF WE HELP THEM, SHOW THEM KINDNESS, THEY MAY NOT WANT TO HURT ANYONE.”

 “They always do, Pap.”

“THERE´S GOOD IN THEM. EVERYONE CAN BE A GOOD PERSON IF THEY JUST TRY.” Tears filled Papyrus´ eye sockets. “PLEASE, BROTHER, THIS IS NOT YOU. YOU WOULD NEVER HURT ANYONE!”

Dust kept his gaze on Papyrus. The sight of the tears in Papyrus´ eye sockets made him hesitate, but he have to continue.

“LET ME HELP YOU, SANS!”

Dust saw the human kill Papyrus in a memory. “You don´t understand, Papyrus!” he screamed, his newly colored eyes flaring. “The human… They´ll kill you, Pap… They´ll kill you and everyone else… over and over and over and over… I have to stop them… I can´t let them kill you again. Besides;” Dust widened his smile, his changed eyes piercing at Papyrus. “It would be better to be killed by me than them, right?”

Papyrus looked down in sadness. He could no longer recognize the monster before him; this was not like Sans at all. Papyrus loved his brother more than anyone else, he refused to give up hope for him. “THIS ISN´T LIKE YOU, SANS,” he started up again. “THIS IS WRONG. I BELIEVE IN YOU, BOTH OF YOU. I WILL ALWAYS STAND BY YOUR SIDE. YOU DON´T HAVE TO FACE THIS ALONE, SANS. WE CAN GET THROUGH THIS TOGETHER.”

Dust has waited long enough. It would only be harder if he let this continue. Raising his hands, he summoned a Gaster Blaster with purple eyes right at Papyrus. “Enough!” he yelled, the Gaster Blaster firing a purple beam of light towards his brother.

The attack hit Papyrus, bringing his HP down to zero. Papyrus felt nothing but pain, but had enough strength to look up at his brother. His body slowly turning to dust. “IT´S OKAY, SANS. I KNOW THIS WAS HARD FOR YOU,” he whispered. “IF THIS WILL HELP YOU, IF THIS WILL MAKE YOU HAPPY, THEN I´M HAPPY.”

Dust looked on as his brother was slowly turning to dust. Tears started to form in his eye sockets, but he remained where he was. “Papyrus, I…” He didn´t know what to say.

“IT´S OKAY, SANS.” Papyrus smiled one last time up at his brother. “I FORGIVE YOU.”

Papyrus turned to dust before his eyes, this time by Dust´s own hands. He heard his LV increase, but it didn´t feel as good as the other times. Dust fell to his knees, Papyrus´ dust before him. With shaking hands he picked Papyrus´ scarf up from the cold snow. He let it go, letting the wind blew it away.

Dust kept his gaze on his brother´s dust. He suddenly smiled, chuckles escaping from his mouth. He threw his head back, almost removing his hood from his head, and started laughing. He laughed as tears slowly fell from his eye sockets. He laughed as he rose from the ground, determined now more than ever to stop the human. He laughed as he killed the rest of the monsters.

He laughed when he saw the Phantom of his brother beside him.

***

Dust woke up screaming. Sweat covered his skull and tears fell from his eye sockets. Untangle himself from the blanket, he tried to get away. He didn´t know from what, he just felt like he needed to run. He didn´t get far as he stumbled over his own legs and fell down from the bed.

He instinctively let his arms break his fall, which sent a pain through them. He had no time to worry about it. Before he knew it, a black hand grasped his shoulder, preventing him from running away. He flinched at the touch. Pulling his knees to his chest, he cried between his legs and waited for whatever the person wanted to do with him. He repeated apologies to Papyrus.

“Dust, Dust, look at me, Dust.”

Dust shook his head. The voice sounded familiar, but no one could be there. He killed everyone. “I´m sorry. I´m sorry. I´m so sorry,” he repeated.

“It´s okay, Dust. You´re not in any danger. You had a nightmare. Dust, look at me.”

Dust stopped apologizing. He dried his tears in his hoodie, but they were soon replaced by new ones. He raised his head and looked Nightmare in the eye.

“That´s it, Dust. Relax. Keep your breathing under control,” Nightmare instructed.

While skeleton monsters did not need to breathe, it did help them calm down. Skeletons would usually pretend to breathe when they were with other monsters, simply because other monsters felt uncomfortable if the skeletons weren´t breathing.

Dust tried to breathe, tried to calm down, but the memory of killing his brother kept repeating in his mind. Without warning, Dust leapt himself at Nightmare, holding the fabric of Nightmare´s hoodie like he´s life depended on it. He laid his skull on Nightmares chest and started sobbing louder.

Nightmare, not having tried something like that before, instinctively wrapped his arms around Dust, bringing him closer. He whispered comforted words to the other skeleton, slowly starting to rock them both back and forth.

Killer and Horror stayed back at the doorframe, not wanting to discourage Dust.

“It´s okay, Dust, just let it out,” Nightmare whispered. “It´s okay.”

Dust fastened his grip on Nightmare´s hoodie. “N-n-no, it´s-s-s no-o-ot,” he sobbed. “I-I-I ki-i-illed Papyrus. I… I kil-l-led my brot-her.”

“You didn´t feel like you had any other choice.”

Dust didn´t answer, just cried louder. Nightmare indicated with his head at Killer and Horror to come closer. The two of them did, placing themselves on each side of Dust and hugged him, showing their supports.

Dust sobbed even more at that. He did not deserve this. He did not deserve to be comforted. He killed his brother. He deserved to be killed himself. He deserved to live in agony for the rest of his life.

But these alternate versions of him comforted him, saying it was okay. He felt so grateful for the three of them, but did not know how to show it, especially not now. He kept his skull on Nightmare´s chest, but laid a hand on both Killer and Horror, holding them too for comfort.

None of them knew how long they stayed like that. Dust still felt tears forming in his eye sockets, but he no longer made any sound. He listened to the others breathing, slowly starting to do it himself. He felt drained from crying so much. He kept his eye sockets open, too afraid to have another nightmare.

Nightmare pulled slightly away from Dust so he could look him in the eyes. He still had his arms around him, making sure the other knew he did not want to pull away. Dust felt Nightmare wipe his tears away. He did not know what to do, nor say. The memory was still fresh in his mind, he did not trust his voice to not crack if he spoke.

“Dust, I know you feel ashamed for what you did, but remember; you did it out of desperation,” Nightmare started.

Dust chuckled dryly. “That doesn´t justify my actions,” he answered and hung his head. “I killed everyone.”

“Dust, look at me.”

Dust kept his gaze on the floor for a moment longer before raising his head.

“The human committed over two hundred genocides before you could remember what had happened, that would make anyone go mad,” Nightmare started. “You only tried to stop them. You only wanted the pain to stop. No one can blame you for that.”

“I-“

“I know there´s going to go a while before you realize that, but I also know one day you will,” Nightmare interrupted him. “And we will guide you to that day.” He saw Killer and Horror nod beside him. “Papyrus forgave you. Now you must forgive yourself and move on.”

Dust started crying again and buried his face in Nightmare´s hoodie. He did not cry as much as before, feeling the comfort the other three gave him. He was not sure he could forgive himself for killing his brother, but he would try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Dust, but he needed to face the truth. I could not see him being part of the gang if he believed Papyrus was still there.
> 
> Lastly we have Cross. I only need to read trough his chapters and correct the mistakes I can spot, maybe also change something somewhere if it sounds too weird :D


	7. Meeting Cross

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After creating some negativity, Nightmare´s sense some strong emotions from a certain monster.

Everything was white. No matter where he was, no matter how far he ran, there was only white. Why was he the only one here? Where was everyone else? They couldn´t be dead, could they?

Cross didn´t understand it. How did this happen? His world was supposed to be perfect. _He_ promised a perfect world build together by all the happy endings, creating a perfect AU.

Now, everything was gone. Nothing was here, except him.  What could he do now? He wanted his family back. He wanted everyone back. But what could he do? He was all alone. What would happen to him now? Was he to just slowly die here, all alone?

It wasn´t supposed to end this way. There was nothing but white. Only white.

***

Nightmare sat alone in a tree in some unknown Au, looking over the monsters who at the moment tried to piece together what had happened to them. This time Nightmare had made chaos alone in an Au because his team members apparently had the idea to prank him. They only though it was funny until they saw the look on Nightmare´s face when the deed was done. One of their punishments was that they weren´t allowed to leave the hideout for a week. It had been four days now and he could sense the others were getting restless.

Well, they should have thought of that before pranking him.

Nightmare had to admit it was weird to do this alone. He was so used to having someone there with him that now it didn´t feel as satisfying as it usually did. Despite he had slowly acknowledged he saw the three skeletons at his hideout as more than just his minions, he still wasn´t sure about the idea.

He had had a close relationship with his brother and look how that turned out. Nightmare did not want to repeat that pain again. Still, he could not bring himself to destroy the strong protectionists he felt about the other three.

Nightmare sighed silently. He had never imagined this would happen and he´s not sure how to feel about it. It was nice to have monsters around him that watched his back, cared for him, but would it last? And if it did, what if one of them got hurt? They did fight Ink and Dream fairly often, and despite it being five against two, they were still against the Creator/Protector of the Multiverse. Ink was a silly skeleton, but he could be strong if he wanted to be.

Nightmare decided not to think too much about it. Whatever his relationship with Killer, Horror and Dust were, he would not become merciful. No matter what.

Feeling strong after the negative emotions in this unknown Au, Nightmare got ready to leave. However, before he made a portal to his hideout, a stronger negative feeling let its presence known. That was strange, considering Nightmare could detect whoever was feeling it weren´t in this Au. A clear sign the monster was feeling strong, negative emotions.

Nightmare could sense anger, but he mostly felt sadness from this unknown monster. Nightmare should leave it at that, he should just keep to himself and continue his journey home. This was why he could not understand why he made a portal that could lead him to the monster.

Arriving at the Au left Nightmare speechless. It was completely white for as far as he could see. Nightmare had never seen an Au like this before. He did not know Ink on a personal level, but he did know the Protector hated blank spaces. If there was nothing there, Ink would come up with something to fill it out.

But this Au was surrounded by this white color, this emptiness. Nightmare doubted Ink would have abandoned this Au so quickly, there was nothing there. Ink did have a habit of not finishing all his Au ideas, Nightmare´s hideout were proof of that. Ink would however not lose inspiration this early.

Something most had happened to this Au.

Nightmare was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of sobbing, the negative emotions now feeling stronger. Looking to his left, he found the source.

The Aus Sans were hunched down on the ground, his tears falling to the white ground. He wore a black jacket with fluff on the hood. He wore black shorts with white Xs instead of stripes like many other Sans´ and white shoes with Xs on them. He also wore a black and white scarf.

If Nightmare had to describe the others outfit it would be complicated. It did look comfortable, but complicated.

Looking closer, Nightmare saw the skeleton had a white pupil in his left eye socket and a red pupil in his right eye socket. He also had a lightning like scar, maybe wound or mark, under his right eye.

 It did not take long for the other to notice he was no longer alone. He wiped some of his tears away and looked up at Nightmare a little weary, but mostly curious and surprised. It was clear the skeleton had not seen another monster (or anyone) for a long time.

Nightmare stood still for a moment, unsure what to do. He had had no intention to come, but here he was. And now that he was here, could he just leave? Just like that? Maybe the other would just think of him as an illusion?

Being alone in an empty, white Au could probably do that.

Could Nightmare just do that? He felt weird about the though. Inspecting the skeleton again from where he stood, he could assume this Sans was a kind of warrior, but it was too early to say. Even if he was some kind of warrior, it didn´t mean he would follow Nightmare. He could also just end this monster´s misery and turn him to dust. That would be better than living in a white Au, right?

The black/white clothed skeleton kept himself on the ground. His eye sockets showed signs he was ready to continue crying, but he held them back.  “Who are you?” he asked with a somewhat even tone.

Nightmare kept quiet for a moment. The other wasn´t scared of him. He was sad, depressed, lonely, but not scared. That kind of reminded him of Killer, Horror and Dust. None of them had been afraid of him either, but had felt depressed in their own way.

Maybe he could help this skeleton?

Of course, if he helped this skeleton, he would surely feel some kind of loyalty to him, which could make him part of the team. He did not want to help him without getting something in return, right? Nightmare forced himself not to think more about it and instead answered the other´s question. “The names Nightmare. What´s yours?”

“Cross.”

Nightmare had to admit he was surprised the other didn´t go by the name “Sans.” He was clearly this Au´s Sans, but didn´t go by his real name. Interesting.

“Well, Cross, this is some… special world you live in.”

Cross frowned. He now stood up. “I´m not so sure about that.”

“Of course not.” Nightmare smiled slightly. “Do you want to leave this place?”

Cross perked up at that. “You can… you can take me away from this place?”

Nightmare shrugged. “Not much for you here, is there? You could join my little team. You seem strong, so why not?”

Cross´ excitement was shown clearly in his eye sockets, but he hesitated a little while asking: “What exactly does that imply?”

“Simple; you only need to spread some negativity when I ask you to.”

“Negativity? You mean hurt someone, make them angry or sad?”

“Whatever works. Probably all you said and more.”

Cross thought for a moment, but nodded. “I can do that.” He looked down at the white ground. “Then… you will take me away from this empty place?”

“Of course, you´re not much use to me here. You´re gonna have to meet my other three gangmembers. They can be crazy, just so you are prepared. And they, well also me, would like to see what you are made of, so-.”

Nightmare was stopped midsentence by Cross pretty much tackle him into a hug while thanking him for saving him from his Au. Nightmare was again speechless and patted Cross gently on the back. Cross did not seem ready to pull away anytime soon, so Nightmare just let him have his moment.

While the other thanked and maybe cried into his shoulder, Nightmare was a little thankful none of the others from his gang was there. He was not sure how to explain that, nor how he would explain the arrival of Cross to them.

Well, he doubted it was going to be a problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that chapter was short, but I couldn´t come up with more. I did consider adding the prank Killer, Horror and Dust could have made on Nightmare, but decided against it. I wanted these meet chapters to be mostly about who they met and Nightmare, and the prank may have filled too much (and I did not know what the prank could be :P)
> 
> Anyway, I promise the next chapter is gonna be longer.


	8. Proven yourself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cross feels ashamed of himself for not being able to kill other monsters, sometimes he can´t even bring himself to hurt them. He wants to prove to the others he belong in Nightmare´s gang. He is sent to an Au to gather supplies, but plan to hurt and kill the monsters to prove his worth.
> 
> It did not go as he had planned.

Cross hadn´t really had any expectations when he joined Nightmare´s gang. He knew what was expected of him and what he needed to do to stay. He had not thought much about the life in the gang.

When he met Killer, Horror and Dust he was surprised by their condition. While he himself did not look that much like Classic Sans, those three took it to a different level. Despite their unusual appearance, none of them had treated him badly. They all welcomed him to the team and were excited to see what he could do.

Training against them had proved more difficult than he thought. He had trained with the Royal Guard, and therefore had some experience in fighting strong opponents, but he had never been as exhausted as after a training session with either of them. They all had a different kind of attack, different strategies, and while some of their attacks were similar to each other, Cross had never seen anything like it before.

His own style could be compared to all three of them. Cross had noticed Killer and Horror preferred to use psychical weapons that did not require any magic. He later learned the two of them did not have as much control over their magic as they used to and had therefore adapted to that. Using weapons seemed to be the best solution, and both now enjoyed using weapons more than magic attacks. Cross had seen the two of them could still use magic attacks, which only made the fight against them harder.

Dust pretty much only used magic attacks. Cross had seen he walks around with a couple of knives, but he rarely uses them. His attacks are fast and strong, and he likes to distract his opponents by making bones appear from the ground around them.

Cross, like Dust, pretty much only used magic attacks, and yet at the same time uses weapons. He no longer used bones as his attacks, but knives. He could summon big and small, sharp and broken. The others had been surprised by that, and Cross could not blame them for that. What skeleton monster couldn´t summon bones?

It was also thanks to these training matches he really got to know each of them. They all liked to pretend they did not care about each other, they liked to tease each other and sometimes just laze around. Cross had never been good at that. He was after all not trained to be lazy, but the others insistent sometimes made him just relax too.

Cross had never been trained to hurt innocents. That had been a struggle for him ever since he joined. He had promised Nightmare he could do it the day they met, but Cross always hesitated when he saw the look on the monsters faces when they slowly destroyed their homes. Cross knew how that felt, and spreading that feeling did not suit him well.

None of the others had said anything to it, not even Nightmare. When their destruction came to that point where Cross just couldn´t move, at least one of them would lead him away from the chaos and help him relax. They would leave not long after that.

Cross hated himself for that.

He was now part of Nightmare´s gang. He was supposed to have no mercy. He was supposed to spread fear in other monsters, but they all looked at him with that thankful look when he couldn´t kill them.

Cross could not keep doing that. If he could not do what he was supposed to do, Nightmare would probably send him back to his Au, back to the empty space. Cross wanted nothing less. Cross knew he had to prove himself. He needed to prove to all four of them that he belonged here, that he could be just like them. Mercy was not something he needed in his life, not anymore.

The question was; how could he prove himself?

Nightmare was the only one who could travel between Aus of the five of them. When the others asked to be sent to some random Au to harm others, Nightmare would give them a time and space where the portal, that would sent them back to the hideout, would appear when they should return. If they didn´t return when Nightmare expected them, he would look for them in the Au. That had never happened before.

Maybe Cross could make it happen? He could ask to go somewhere, cause some chaos and when the portal appeared and he was expected home, he would stay. The others would come to look for him, see what he had done to the Au and realize he was a valuable member to the team.

He had a good opportunity to do that now. Before he joined, and Horror and Dust for that matter, Nightmare would often sent Killer off to a random Au to use some energy. He did the same thing with Dust, only Horror hadn´t tried going to an Au without anybody else. Now Nightmare rarely sent someone to an Au by themselves, even if it was only to gather supplies. Now he may have to.

Cross had walked to the kitchen that morning and discovered they did not have much healing food left. That normally wouldn´t be too much of a problem, but most of the gang got badly hurt during their latest visit to an Au. Neither Ink nor Dream had been the cause of the gang´s injuries, but the condition of the Au. The monsters had been crazy, their environment even more so. None got hurt too badly, but it would be best for them to just stay at the hideout and wait for their injuries to heal.

Nightmare had considered healing them, but decided against it. He too had gotten hurt, and if he had to heal both himself _and_ his entire team, he would faint from exhausting. Something he did not want to. The team had decided, some more happy about it than others, they would stay at the hideout for a couple of days. Horror had asked to go home to his own Au this morning. If the gang was going to stay at the hideout doing nothing anyway, he might as well check up on his own Au and his brother, and more importantly give his Papyrus the food he had gathered while being away.

Cross too had gotten hurt in the fight, but not too badly. If anyone were to gather supplies, he would be the best choice.

Nightmare had thought for some time about the idea, then he opened a portal to some Au Cross could gather supplies in. Before Cross walked through, Nightmare warned him about only doing what he was supposed to, not anything else. Cross had been worried for a moment if Nightmare had figured out his plan, but Nightmare didn´t say anything else and let him go.

Cross now found himself in some random Au near Snowdin. At least, he assumed the city would go by that name, but some Aus did have other names to their cities, even if they looked exactly like the one from Undertale.

Cross decided not to think too much about it and started the walk towards the snow covered city. While he did plan on spreading some negativity to gain his gang members respect, he knew he also needed to do what he was sent there to do.

He did not know he was being watched.

Cross made sure to stick to the shadows while he stole some healing food in the Aus Snowdin, it was too early to be discovered. He could not risk being seen by this Au´s Sans, in case he had some connection to Ink. Well, a bigger connection than being Ink´s creation. Not many Sans´ knew about the Creator or the Dark Sans´, and Cross doubted Nightmare would sent him to an Au who would know about it, but it was still best to be safe rather than sorry. Besides, he would gather attention anyway if the people of Snowdin mistook him as their own Sans.

After gathering the needed supplies and hiding it somewhere no one would find it, Cross thought about the best and fastest way to spread negativity. He was outside of Snowdin, but close enough to keep an eye on the monsters walking (and flying?) around the city.

Cross blinked a couple of times. While gathering supplies, he had been so focused on not being seen he did not take a closer look on any of the monsters. Now that he no longer needed to stay hidden, he saw one thing he had not seen before; the monsters in this Au had bird wings and bird tails.

Cross had seen many weird Aus since he joined Nightmare´s gang, but he had never seen monsters with bird wings before. Not that it mattered. He doubted it would make these monsters stronger, maybe just harder to kill because they could fly away. He just needed to be sure that did not happen.

However on his way back to Snowdin, the backpack he kept the supplies in suddenly landed right in front of him, making him jump back in surprise. Now knowing about the extra body parts these monsters walked around with had, Cross immediately looked up.

Right above him flew this Au´s Sans, currently looking down at him with a lazy smile. This Sans wore completely black shorts, a black hoodie with fluff around the hood and a blue T-shirt. Beautiful black wings flapped from his back and a black bird tail could slightly be seen behind him. On his frontal bone rested a pair of goggles. He wore blue socks and a pair of black slippers with what looked like three claws in the front.

The Sans gracefully landed before the backpack of supplies, he´s wings folding out behind him. He laid his hands in his hoodie´s pockets and pushed slightly to the backpack before him with his slipper. “Heya pal, don´t you know it´s _ill-eagle_ to steal?” he asked with a wink.

Cross smirked slightly at the pun, but kept his focus. “Sorry feather, but I need it,” he answered and smiled wider. “Unless it´s too much of a _birden_?”

The Sans chuckled. “I guess _toucan_ play that game, but then I´ll be late for meeting with my brother. So, is there more you need here or…?”

This is already not going as Cross imagined. He was not supposed to start talking to anyone here, that would only make it harder to hurt them. The Sans before him pushed the backpack closer to him with his slipper again, the smile still clear on his face, waiting to see what Cross would do. Cross looked at the backpack being pushed closer to him for moment before looking up at the Sans again. This Sans was ready to let him go with the stolen supplies, but that was not the only thing Cross wanted to do here. It was however the only thing he was sent here for.

The winged Sans nodded his head towards the backpack. “You can keep it, I won´t say anything,” he said and looked at Cross again. “After all, you do seem to need it more than we do.”

Cross instinctually brushed against a scar he knew were hidden under his sleeve. If you looked closely at his phalanges, you would be able to see it. Cross did not think the Sans would have noticed it.

The Sans looked at the backpack again, taking note of how full it was. “You must be badly hurt if you need _that_ much.” He looked up again. “Or you may also need it for someone else? Whatever the case, you can take it, but try not to steal it next time. Not everyone is as laid back about it as I am.”

Cross was starting to hate the Sans before him, only because he made it harder for him to hurt anyone in this Au. Cross knew, if he started harming the monsters here, this Sans would try to stop him, which meant Cross would have to hurt him. It´s annoying how such kindness can make him hesitate. Cross had never wanted to hurt anyone, but he had to. He did find it enjoyable the few times he had done it with Nightmare´s gang. Why couldn´t he do it alone?

Cross had also been in this Au for too long. It took him longer to gather the supplies than he thought, the portal that was supposed to take him back to the hideout had probably disappeared now, which meant it won´t be long before Nightmare showed up. And yet Cross stood still, too deep in thought about what to do.

A yell brought him back to reality, but the yell weren´t directed to him. Behind the bird winged Sans Cross spotted Ink, who jumped in the air and sent a puddle of pink paint his way. Cross jumped out of the way, now wanting to just flee. His plan to prove himself would have to wait. There was no way he could fight Ink on his own. Not only that, but if Ink was here, there was a high possibility Dream would be here too. Cross could never look Nightmare in the eye again if he got captured by them.

Forgetting about the backpack still on the ground, Cross sent a small wave of knives towards Ink. He ran away from the battle while Ink was distracted.

The Au´s Sans looked confused after Cross, even more so when another skeleton with a yellow cape came up behind him and asked if he was okay. He did not notice the skeleton with the giant paint brush started chasing Cross.

Cross ran as fast as he could. He knew Ink would chase him down, but until Nightmare came looking for him, he could not escape from this Au. When he felt he had gotten a good distance between them, he hid behind a big tree and hoped Ink wouldn´t find him. After a moment of pure silence, Cross slid down to the ground and leaned his back against the tree. Nothing had gone to plan. Even worse was the fact he no longer had the backpack with him, which contained the only reason he was sent here in the first place.

Cross held around his legs and waited for something to happen, either for Nightmare or Ink to find him. Maybe he should not count too much on Nightmare to find him. Nightmare probably already knew about Cross´ failure. What could he use a monster who couldn´t even gather supplies? He couldn´t do anything right. He was completely useless. Cross felt tears in his eye sockets, feeling worse by the moment.

He did not know that these negative emotions helped a certain tar-covered skeleton in finding him.

Nightmare had been in his room ever since he sent Cross out to gather some healing food. When he finally decided to come out and see what his gang members were up to, he was surprised to see Cross had not returned. Killer and Dust had watched something on the television, knowing Cross hadn´t returned but thought it was because Nightmare´s portal have not been sent yet. When Nightmare asked them about Cross, they only looked at him with a confused look.

Nightmare went to the Au right after that. He was not too worried about Cross being in danger. He had sent him to Birdtale, a simple Au who reminded a lot about Undertale, except of course for the bird wings and tails. Cross shouldn´t have stumble upon any problems, especially considering he was only sent after food.

However, arriving at Birdtale, Nightmare knew something was wrong. He could sense strong negative emotions coming from the woods, even worse was that he could sense not only Ink but also Dream. Now Nightmare was worried Cross had gotten hurt.

Following the negative emotions coming from within the woods, it did not take Nightmare long before he spotted Cross sitting beside a tree, hiding his skull between his legs. As far as Nightmare could see, Cross wasn´t hurt psychically. He was not so sure mentally.

“Cross?”

Cross, not having noticed Nightmare´s presence despite the cold aura, quickly wiped his tears from his eye sockets and looked up. “Hey.”

Nightmare looked around them for a moment, but thankfully couldn´t sense either Ink or Dream. He turned his attention back on Cross. “Are you okay?” he asked, then shook his head. “Let me rephrase that; what happened?”

Cross looked away. “I´m a failure,” he whispered.

Nightmare stood dumbfounded for a moment. “Why do you think that?”

“Because I´m not like the others!” Cross answered, tears filling his eye sockets again. “I´m not like Killer, Horror or Dust! I can´t kill other monsters, I can barely hurt them! What use am I then? What can I contribute to this team? I couldn´t even return with healing food. I couldn´t hurt this Au´s Sans.”

“Wow, wow, Cross, slow down.” Nightmare walked over to the other skeleton and sat down next to him. One of his tentacles started rubbing Cross´ back in comfort while another was placed on his shoulder for support. “What do you mean you couldn´t hurt this versions Sans? I´ve never asked you to do that.”

Cross kept quiet for moment, secretly liking the comfort Nigthmare gave him. “I… I wanted to prove that I… that I belonged on your team… I… only wanted to gather supplies because… I could then hurt the monsters in this Au and prove I belonged with you guys…”

“Cross, what gave you the idea you needed to prove yourself?” Nightmare asked, and then growled slightly. “The others didn´t make you believe that, did they?”

Cross was quick to deny that. “No! No, they´ve never said anything like that.”

“Then why did you feel the need to prove yourself?”

“Because… I can barely hurt others and that´s… that was part of the deal why I got to join you. I want to stay, but how can I if I can´t kill monsters?”

“Oh, Cross.” Nightmare made the other look at him. “If I didn´t believe you could bring something to this team, then I would have never let you join us. You may not want to kill, you may not always want to hurt other monsters, that doesn´t mean you don´t contribute anything to this team. I´ve seen how you are around Killer, Horror and Dust, and how they are around you. You four fool around like little children in the mansion. You keep their spirits high. Those three got in problems all the time before you joined. I did not imagine it could get worse, and then you showed up and proved me wrong. What I´m trying to say is, you keep them together. You keep them happy. You help them face their own insecurities. You don´t need to prove anything.”

Cross could still feel tears in his eye sockets, though this time it was not out of sadness.

“Besides,” Nightmare continued. “Spreading negativity doesn´t mean killing monsters. How many feel anything when they´re dead? I know you don´t always like to hurt others, but trust me when I say, Killer, Horror and Dust doesn´t always like to either.”

“They don´t?”

“Nope. Horror and Dust sometimes can´t hurt a Papyrus. And Killer sometimes breaks down because he remembers what he had done to his own Au. You are not alone on that matter, okay?”

Cross nodded.

“Good.” Nightmare brought both of them to their feet. “If you feel insecure about yourself again, talk to us, any of us, and we´ll make it disappear. But now I think it´s time we go back. Ink and Dream may be looking for you, I assume?”

Cross widened his eye sockets, haven´t completely forgotten about that. He nodded again, then asked; “What about the supplies?”

“Eh, none of you has any major injuries, it can wait to tomorrow,” Nightmare answered. “And this time, you bring someone with you.”

Cross smiled sheepishly, now feeling a little ashamed about what he had done, or tried to do. He still felt guilty about not doing his job, but grateful for all the things Nightmare had said to him, and that he gets another chance to do this simple job, albeit not alone.

Before Nightmare created a portal back to the hideout, the same backpack Cross had used earlier for his “shopping” landed in front of them. Both Nightmare and Cross looked up and was greeted by the sight of the bird winged Sans from the Au. He waved down to both of them before flying off again. No sign of Ink or Dream were with him.

Nightmare looked over at Cross again. “A friend of yours?” he asked.

Cross kept his eye sockets towards the Underground ceiling, despite the winged Sans was no longer in sight. “I´m not sure,” he answered before picking the backpack up from the ground. All the supplies he had gathered from earlier were still there.

“Welp, whatever he is or not, he just made your mission a success.”

Cross just smiled, proudly holding the backpack close to him. This time nothing stopped them as Nightmare created a portal back to the hideout. Killer and Dust waited for them the same place as Nightmare had left them, gratefully took some of the healing food Cross brought with him.

Nightmare left the three alone as Cross told them about what happened in Birdtale, unaware if he would include his insecurity and the talk Nightmare gave him. Nightmare meant every word he said to Cross, accepting the fact he cared about his four gang members more than he thought he would. He had to admit, had he met Cross as the first one to join instead of Killer, he would likely have left the skeleton in his misery. Now, he could not imagine the team without Cross, or any of them.

A crash could be heard from the area he had just left Killer, Dust and Cross in. Nightmare sighed silently to himself. He hadn´t been home for five minutes and the three skeletons was already breaking things. It would only get worse once Horror returned from Horrortale.

Yet continuing on his way down the hall (he could deal with those three later), he couldn´t help but think he wouldn´t have it any other way. He was now stuck with four crazy, problematic skeletons.

But they were his crazy, problematic skeletons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This did not turn out the way I thought it would, but I am quite happy with it. My first idea was to have Cross fight against Birdtale Sans, having trouble with it and being saved by Nightmare, and then let them have a talk about Cross´ doubt. 
> 
> But I ended up looking at fanart of Birdtale Sans and, yeah, he´s adorable, beautiful and has a awesome design. I just couldn´t kill him. And I totally see him saying a lot of bird puns :D I might write more of him, but what is he called? Calling him the Sans or Birdtale Sans is rather long. My best guess is he goes by Raven. I mean, he does have raven wings, right?
> 
> I´m not sure how Cross feels about puns, so I just made him not enjoy them as much as a regular Sans, but not hating them and come up with some of his own from time to time.
> 
> Anyway, this was my take on how Nightmare recruited those four. It may take a while before I´m gonna upload something here again, since this story was pretty much done when I started posting it and now I only have ideas saved on my computer. I am also back to work tomorrow, so that too will take me away from writing. But, eh, I don´t think (hope) it would take me that long to upload something again. We´ll see.
> 
> Thank you for reading my story. This is my first story posted here, so I hope it was okay. If you have any ideas about what these five could get themselves into, let me know and I may make a story about it. I will of course credit you for the idea.
> 
> Until next time :D

**Author's Note:**

> That´s the first chapter. In the next we´ll see Nightmare and Killer bond a little more before moving on to the next member.
> 
> To be honest, I´m not too sure about this chapter. I wanted Killer to be more emotionsless, but I had a hard time seeing him joining Nightmare if he didn´t feel anything. Besides, I don´t believe he´s completely emotionsless, he does feel joy in killing others.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and will stay tuned for the next :D


End file.
